Codename
by SnowKiter
Summary: Beck is an ordinary boy preparing for his journey and striving to be a great Trainer just like anyone else. What he doesn't expect is to encounter conspiracy and spies and secret agents, and to learn that the foundation of the peace of the Pokemon Leagues rests on secrecy.
1. Build Your World

This is a story about random conspiracy that starts out as mundane and ordinary-ness so that you want to fall asleep.

I wrote this out of boredom, and the desire to test out an OT story and play with someone's fate. xD

Rated K+, really, but T for...I really don't know. Just in case?

I don't own Pokemon.

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><p><em><strong><span>Codename<span>**_

* * *

><p>"<em>Raptor, sir…They're on the move."<em>

_The shadowy figure stirred in response, gave a brief nod at the woman dressed in purple and black standing before him. _

_A computer screen pulsed with light, red arrows flickering and pointing to various colored dots moving across a picture of a map. _

"_I see. Hoenn, isn't it?" _

"_That's right. We should send someone. It wouldn't do for Team Magma or Aqua to be revived into something more deadly."_

"_That wouldn't do at all," agreed the man airily, leaning back in his chair. "But aren't Osprey and Kingfisher already in the region? And of course…" He paused before saying the third name. "Redstart is there as well."_

"_They are, but…the best one for the immediate job is undoubtedly Oriole. We have already deployed that agent and are awaiting first reports. "_

"_That one? Kind of young, wouldn't you say?"_

"_We will have Oriole posing as a challenger for the Hoenn league." Her voice became foggy with nostalgia. "There's nothing that sparks growth like a journey with Pokemon, right? And Oriole is more than competent."_

"_Yes," he agreed, laughing softly. "You could call it that."_

* * *

><p>Before he woke up from a gray-tinged exhausted doze, Beck had a nightmare about birds.<p>

He was flying high in the broad cerulean sky, flapping his wings along with his other bird friends—Pidgeys, Swablus, Tallows—when a terrible storm converged upon them all. Black storminess swallowed up the blue heavens and thunder roared terribly, echoing off mountain spires. Lightning cut harshly through inky black clouds, lightning that quickly formed into blades, blades that quickly impaled and sliced the birds from the sky. Feathers and crimson rained down through the air, cries and wails of horror.

He was among the ones that fell towards the cold earth so far below, wings broken and mangled, crying out for help that wouldn't come. After all, who would lift a finger for a bunch of mere birds?

Just as he was about to hit the ground in red-tinted impact, Beck shot awake in his bed. He was breathing rapidly and lightly, feeling rather dizzy at having experienced that uncomfortable jolt of that falling sensation. For a moment, the boy stared at the ceiling, before straightening and wearily glancing out the window. It was dark.

He looked over at his alarm clock which read an unpleasantly early number. He sighed, as he realized exactly what day it was and how pointless it would be to attempt to go back to sleep because of that.

It was _the_ Day. The Day he got his first Pokemon and went on The Journey to become a Pokemon Trainer. Or, for dramatic effect or ego-boosting reasons—_The_ Pokemon Trainer. The chance to become…_The_ Champion. _The_ Ultimate Pokemon Trainer.

Something of that sort.

After a few minutes or a few years, the details of his nightmare and the half-asleep fogginess in Beck's head gradually melted away like mist in sunshine and excitement from the day before filled him again—the excitement that had kept him wide-awake and away from sleep for much of the night. He was going on _a Pokemon Journey._

Like another repetition of those same words suddenly filled him with fuel, Beck pranced out of bed, flying towards his closet. He slammed open the sliding door with much more force than necessary, almost knocking a picture frame off an adjacent shelf. He grabbed at where his clothes awaited, swinging violently from the hangars with the force the door opening, like they were just as impatient as he to be gone.

It was early, yes, but he might as well get going _now._

Beck pulled a pair of white denim shorts on first, and then followed up with a T-shirt the shade of indigo midnight with a Pokeball insignia slapped on the front. His backpack was already packed. Beck paused, thought for a moment, and then slipped a sweater in as well. It was the latter end of summer as of now, the days still too hot to even contemplate sweaters, but winter weather had a habit of striking suddenly and savagely and all that.

He hated the cold.

With that done, Beck wheeled into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He took a moment afterwards, to tousle his pillow-pummeled platinum blonde hair into a more presentable state of messiness and attempted to rub the sleep-deprived dullness out of his burnished teal eyes. Satisfied that his appearance was acceptable enough, the boy snatched up his traveling belongings and headed towards the stairs.

With bag slung over his shoulders, Beck slowed his pace enough to walk like a civilized person. He was intercepted by a younger girl regarding him sleepily from the bottom of the stairs, still in her pajamas. Her hair was a much brighter, clearer shade of blond than his, shimmering like curled gold. Their mother often jokingly told him that he'd better watch out when they grew up—a lot of boys would come after his pretty little sister and it would be his job to defend her from the bad ones.

"Why are you up so early, Risa?" Beck asked, petting her on the head affectionately. "It's not even six."

His younger sister stubbornly stifled a yawn. "I'm not tired!" she exclaimed, like his comment was an accusation. "I heard you banging stuff in your room so I got up. And if I slept in, I would have missed you going away. Because…I knew you were gonna get up early so I did, too!"

Beck laughed, giving her a light shove towards the kitchen. "I wouldn't have left without saying goodbye, silly. Although since now that you're up, I can say goodbye right now so I don't have to come back later just to do that." Risa frowned and crossed her arms. Beck chuckled. "I just want to get my Starter first as soon as possible."

The thought of Pokemon wiped away the childish pout and tiredness on Risa's face. "What kind of Pokemon are you getting?" she asked eagerly, as they entered the kitchen. The smell of cooking drifted over—for their mother was an early bird too— but Beck wasn't hungry. He didn't like eating as soon as he got up.

"I'm thinking of…a Fire-type," Beck said, in response to his sister's question.

"Fire? Ha, Fire stinks," Risa declared triumphantly, as she sat down at the table. "Zuri could beat any Fire-type Pokemon!"

"Yes, but that's because Zuri is Water," he replied patiently, reminding himself to also say goodbye to Risa's cherished Marill before he left. "And I'm planning to challenge Wattson first, because—well, we live in Mauville so I don't have to go far, right off the bat. He's giving me my Starter today," Beck added.

"Wattson is giving you your first Pokemon?"

"That's right." Their father and Wattson had been good friends, and for the boy's tenth birthday, the Gym Leader decided to personally present him with Hoenn's official Starters along with other choices to start him on his journey. Beck had decided his first goal was to prove himself worthy to their family's close friend, by taking the Dynamo Badge.

Risa made a face. "I don't need him to give me my first Pokemon. I have Zuri. And because you choose a Fire-type, I'll beat you up when I get my Trainer License!"

Beck laughed and pretended to concede defeat. Just then, their mother arrived from the kitchen.

"Good morning! Risa, I know you want to say goodbye to your brother, but you have to go back to bed afterwards, okay? And…ah, Beck!" she cried joyfully. "Today's the day we kick you out of the house, huh?"

"Right," he laughed, accepting the hug she offered.

His mother nodded thoughtfully. "…do me a favor before you go, won't you, Beck?"

The boy blinked, as his mother handed him a small pendent. It was a little crimson glass marble on a red piece of yarn, a trinket he sometimes stumbled upon in Zuri's secret stash of stolen treasures. Risa wore a matching blue one around her neck.

Beck understood immediately.

"I'll visit him before I leave," Beck promised, cupping his hand away from Risa so she couldn't see the pendant. His mother smiled bravely, nodded.

Beck approached his sister and spread out his arms. Risa glared at him sullenly for a moment before burying herself into his chest.

"Big brother better come back a lot," she mumbled, "Or else me and Zuri will be mad at you."

"Of course," Beck said brightly, patting her pretty blonde hair. "I'll bring you back something whenever I come back."

She brightened, like that made it all okay. "Okay! Bye-bye!"

"See you soon."

Their mother waited until Beck had put the pendant in a pocket before steering him to the exit.

"Off you go!" she called with enthusiasm like she was the one going on the Pokemon journey. "I know you're excited and all, but be careful and visit often!"

She even gave him a shove out the door, like by doing so she helped ignite him into success. The boy laughed and took a moment to wave at Zuri who was shuffling outside, before walking cheerily towards the Mauville Gym. The sky had lightened a few shades, was now the color of dark wet cement. The air smelled of damp grass and night dew.

Quiet birdsong vibrated through the slumbering city, and Beck was suddenly reminded of some dream he had. Something about birds. The boy paused, but he couldn't remember it, so he stopped thinking of it.

His mind turned instead to his future Gym Battle. He was planning on choosing a Fire-type because he knew Wattson liked using his Magnemite and Magneton to mess with people—with Magnet Rise, that was. The move that provided immunity to Ground attacks seemed an obvious choice for someone who ran an Electric-type Gym. Beck found Fire-types the most fascinating, too, with their rarity and their strength and beauty. In terms of power, few matched them, and he thought one would make a great partner for battle.

It didn't take Beck long to reach the doors of the large shining building and streak through them like a swift Linoone.

"I'm here!" he called cheerily into the Gym, almost smashing face-first into one of the electric force-field-fence-things that Wattson riddled the place with. The Gym was brightly lit as always, but deserted, silent except for the soft hum of background electricity and the gurgling of generators. It was too early in the morning for the Gym Trainers to have gathered.

The silence was abruptly broken, however, by the Gym's single occupant. Wattson's hearty laughter echoed through the chamber as he materialized from some stairs. "Ah! Beck!" he boomed, eyes twinkling with all the affection of a grandfather. "Just in time—or rather early as you always are. But you're in luck, because I still get up earlier than anyone else!"

He let out another series of laughter that Beck smiled at but didn't have the energy to join in, as it was still really too early in the morning. Wattson chuckled a few more times before making a _come here_ gesture. "I've got your Pokemon ready. Choose well!"

Beck hurried after him, forcing his thoughts to gather. He was lead to a table with almost a dozen Pokeballs scattered over it, each with a note card marked with a Pokemon's name. Beck skipped over the first three standing at the front and took his time looking through the rest.

Beck released some of the Pokemon from their capsules, greeted them, examined them, talked to them. He spent a lot of time on the pure Fire-types, but pointedly ignored the pure Ground-types.

He examined a Vulpix critically, eyeing her over. She was beautiful and dignified and part of Beck could imagine having the graceful creature lope into battle as a brilliant Ninetales, throwing rings of fire into the air. But…statistically, that evolutionary family was too fragile for his tastes—fast and powerful but delicate, something that could dish it out but couldn't take it. Beck wanted his Starter to be steadier, reliable and patient, even if less outright graceful than a Ninetales.

Beck was slightly interested in the Ponyta, but she was not interested in him, at all. The fiery horse gave him a distasteful look and turned away immediately, as though by his appearance alone she could tell that he was a horrible person who would end up getting the two of them killed in some distant jungle somewhere. A Rapidash wasn't the _highest _one on his list either though, so Beck did not push the issue and moved on.

He took a brief look at the standard Torchic next, but he returned it to its Pokeball soon after. No matter which way he turned it in his head, the Fire Hoenn Starter simply did not appeal to Beck in terms of fighting style either—trading in the speed of Ninetales for more sheer power, but still not much less fragile.

There wasn't a Growlithe. That was a fairly sturdy and also extremely powerful Pokemon that he had hoped would be an option…there was nothing Beck could do about that, though.

He was about to give up with the idea of beating Wattson right off the bat with a Fire-type, when he spotted one other note card, sitting inconspicuously in the middle of the mass of capsules. It read: "Numel".

Wattson had been standing in the back and doing his best to not be obstructive, but now he raised an eyebrow as Beck reached for the Pokeball.

Numels were Fire and Ground, which would be completely perfect for dealing with Wattson. But…

The boy could practically feel Wattson's eyes focus intently on him and he himself could list all the reasons to not choose a completely common Pokemon probably caught fresh off the Jagged Pass. The first reason was just that: Numels were _common_ and he could catch one himself, later. They were unpopular because they were so painfully slow and stubborn at times, were used as beasts of burden—being more suited to plowing a farm than fighting a battle. And of course, they had been a favorite of the infamous Team Magma, who had once prowled the region with their insidious plots.

Everything was telling him to put the Pokeball back without even seeing what was inside of it, but Beck tossed the capsule on the ground anyways. The Pokemon which came out of it was just as expected. A small, round yellow creature speckled with misshapen green blotches that regarded him with dull, lethargic eyes. The Numel made a low sound akin to a depressed Miltank and looked away from Beck upon meeting his gaze—though in a less blatantly hostile way than the Ponyta.

"Hi," Beck offered. He received no reply. Numel seemed to have taken a great deal of interest in the floor. Behind it, Wattson crossed his arms, an unreadable expression in his normally merry eyes.

Beck attempted to make eye contact with the Pokemon again, but the Numel merely touched his snout to the ground and examined the tiles dully.

The boy sighed, shook his head, about to lift the Pokeball and withdraw the Numel. He had given him a chance, after all. It was a Pokemon that he really wouldn't even _bother_ to catch if he spotted it around Mount Chimney. It looked weak, with less potential than the standard Starter.

_Than make him strong, a_ voice in Beck's head said, more in command than suggestion. _If you call yourself someone who's going to aim for the League, than you should have the heart and skill to raise anything into something powerful. _

Beck paused. The imaginary voice that was probably his conscious most likely pitied the little Numel, who would not be selected by anyone else. But his subconscious did have a point—every Pokemon had potential and it was a Trainer's job to bring that out to its fullest.

Beck swept his gaze over the remaining other Pokeballs. They were fairly commonly used Pokemon—an Abra, a Tallow, a Pikachu. All, of course, had the prospective of becoming strong. But it would be safer to stick with one of them, or to choose the standard Starter.

Beck sighed and withdrew the Numel.

Wattson merely grinned, as easygoing as ever, as the boy approached him with the Numel's Pokeball. Beck leaned back on his heels, examining the capsule in his hand. It wasn't too late to put it back and take his time picking something else, something that would be looked at and approved by most Trainers. Something _safer._

But Beck wasn't too interested in safety.

"Interesting choice, but you always surprise me," the Gym Leader commented, as he handed Beck his Trainer Card and four empty Pokeballs. The boy gazed at the first item in awe. His full name was written on it in official-looking print: "Beck Middell".

Reverently, he slipped the card and the Pokeballs into his backpack, putting them in the front pocket where they could be easily accessed.

"Well, off you go. See you soon!" Wattson winked as Beck slipped out the door, seeming perfectly aware of the boy's intention to challenge him first. The boy smiled to himself.

* * *

><p>As soon as he got outside, Beck couldn't suppress curiosity any longer and sent out his new Pokemon.<p>

"Hi there," he told the Numel immediately, attempting to sound as upbeat and cheerful as possible. "I'm your Trainer now, so let's work hard."

The Numel stared at him. Beck stared back, attempting to imitate his unblinking dullness but only ending up with watering eyes.

"Alright," said Beck, wondering if he was beginning to regret this already. "Let's start with names. I'm Beck. If you're interested."

The Numel stared at him, in a decidedly uninterested manner. Great.

Beck tried again. "So…Do you want a nickname?"

He thought the Pokemon was going to express more lack of reaction, but instead, the Numel nodded slowly.

"Nickname," the boy mused, putting a hand to his lips thoughtfully, "I'm not very good with nicknames."

His Pokemon continued to stare at him, in a patient manner that suggested that he was willing to wait there while Beck thought up of something creative.

"Um…" He began to list random terms having to do with fire, hoping to stumble across an interesting sounding one. "Lava? …Eruption? Magma?"—that one was a bad idea—, "Um…Rocky…no that's really bad…rocks…metamorphic? Igneous? Sedi—Igneous?" Beck watched the Numel's reaction carefully. The Pokemon's eyes were blank.

"How about that? 'Igneous'?"

The Numel seemed to give a shrug and Beck decided that "Igneous" had a cool enough ring to it to be acceptable.

"So what do you want to do first?"

No answer from the Numel now named Igneous.

Beck sighed.

* * *

><p>The white cloth was really not all that noticeable; it was half-hidden in the draping cloak of leaves, but still a brilliant beacon to Beck. He approached the magnificent oak quietly, halting at the roots.<p>

"Hey Dad," he said softly to the tree, or more specifically, the cloth tied to the top branches of the tree. It looked like something torn from a bedsheet, one that had been cleaned impeccably so that it shone pure white without a single fleck of dirt on it.

Beck had been four and a half, and his father half a year gone to some mission or assignment in some distant region, when his mother told the boy to put up the cloth.

"This is a signal to Daddy," she had said, hiding her face from him. "He won't be…coming back to see us anymore…but if you put this somewhere high I'm sure he'll see it looking down from wherever he is. This way, he'll always know where we are."

His father had been a Pokemon Ranger, a job that Beck now knew to be sometimes extremely dangerous.

The boy gestured over to his Pokemon, and the Numel approached the roots curiously.

"I'm starting on my Pokemon Journey today," Beck told the cloth and the person who was supposed to be looking down on the cloth. "This is my partner, Igneous."

The Numel sniffed at the tree trunk and Beck continued. "Mom told me you were a great Trainer, so I'm hoping some of that is passed down to me. She won't say it, but I know she doesn't want me to get into any trouble. I'll do my best." Beck paused and having nothing else to say, he declared. "I'll make you proud, Dad."

Beck got on the very tips of his toes and managed to snag the pendant his mother gave him, onto one of the lower branches of the tree. It swung in the wind, the little marble flashing like laughter and Beck imagined that to be the approving eyes of a person. The pendant had been apparently given to him by his father, though Beck didn't remember exactly when. He was supposed to leave it there, to tell his dad he was leaving.

With that, he turned and began walking, feeling a bit more optimistic and upbeat with his father's invisible blessing bestowed on him. Beck did not really remember the man who was his father—all he had were foggy images of a person with the same hair as his, smiling, laughing, romping with Pokemon. His father's absence did not really tear a hole into the family; on the contrary, his mother was cheerful and loving enough to both of her children for them to almost not notice the subtle empty gap in their lives, going about it with a kind of strength Beck now understood enough to admire.

Igneous nosed him, and Beck looked down. The Numel was holding a Berry in his mouth and was chewing on it.

"Where did you get that?" Beck asked, laughing. Igneous swallowed.

The boy patted the Pokemon on the head and this time, Igneous did not look away like he was disappointed with life.

Feeling as though he had made great progress already, Beck headed outside the town, confident that nothing in the world could go wrong.

* * *

><p>Standing silently behind the tree, a figure was quietly observing the boy walk away. He watched the red marble on the pendant swing in the breeze, and chuckled, the sound low and muted by the sullen wind. "Watch out for the birds, Beck. Or else your world will be quickly broken."<p>

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>And that's the introduction of Beck, a random OT, whom you may or may not care about. You'll be seeing a lot of him, though. The conspiracy has begun. Do you see it yet? *dramatic music*<p>

Yeah not really. I fail at conspiracy. But still!

On that cryptic note, thanks for reading and have a nice day~! ^.^


	2. Along the Path

Second chapter of nonsense. :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>"The first thing we do is to get you to learn a Fire move," Beck declared enthusiastically, as he walked Igneous along Route 117. "And, of course, a Ground-type move to help you against all of Wattson's Pokemon."<p>

The Numel plodded silently beside him, giving no indication that he heard. After finishing the Berry, he had regressed back to staring at the ground, looking away slightly. Beck wondered if the Pokemon had confidence issues…or perhaps was he just plain, ungratefully hostile?

_Pokemon take a while to warm up, _Beck chided himself. _Stop whining and be patient._

The air was fresh and sweet, lushness blown in from Vendanturf Town. There were Trainers milling around the area, some dressed in sports attire and jogging. Two schoolgirls were by the front of the Daycare, one of them instructing the other in a loud voice.

Knowing all about the Locking-Eyes Rule, Beck decided to avoid them, skirting along the edge of a bush and into some tall grass to battle some wild Pokemon first, to test and hone the strength of his Numel. He shuffled through it for a while and it wasn't long before he startled an Oddish out of the foliage. It scrambled in front of him, small crimson eyes flashing in annoyance at the disturbance.

"Alright, Igneous," Beck said cheerily, after thinking for a moment and coming to the logical conclusion that his inexperienced Pokemon would not yet know a Fire attack. "Use Tackle!"

His Pokemon seemed to take a moment to process that order and in that time, the Oddish quickly launched an Absorb attack. The Numel blinked in confusion as vines appeared from the ground and wrapped greedily around him, trying to suck his energy out.

"Hurry!"

Igneous managed tear free of the tendrils before they could do damage and charge at his foe. The Oddish squeaked as it was sent smashing into a nearby tree. While Igneous turned back around, the Grass-type had recovered enough to land another Absorb. When the Numel quickly broke free again to attempt another Tackle, the Oddish attacked with Acid.

"Back up!" Beck cried. Igneous obeyed, his head pulling back, avoiding the corrosive purple liquid by a hair. There was an ever vacant expression on his face.

"Use Growl," he tried. Igneous let out a low rumbling sound, causing the Oddish to flinch and retreat a few steps. This allowed for the Numel to plow into it in a punishing Tackle. The small Oddish was thrown back once more.

Beck didn't allow it time to recover again. "Keep it up!"

Igneous sent the Oddish flying once again. This time, the creature managed to land on its feet as it fell. The Grass-type tensed as it prepared to launch another Acid attack. Beck glanced around frantically for something that would help Igneous avoid the attack.

"Dodge! Use the rocks as cover!" Beck called, hoping that he would be able to make it. The Numel scrambled behind some large stones which hissed with dull steam as the liquid landed on them. He shot out a moment later with surprising speed, landing a solid hit which stunned the Oddish.

"One more hit should do it," the boy encouraged. "Quickly—,"

As the Oddish was thrown back by the consecutive Tackle, it managed to lash out with its stubby legs enough to kick Igneous on the chin. The Numel seemed to let out something like a sigh as he froze and then abruptly toppled over.

The Oddish sailed through the air from the force, before managing to barely land on its feet.

Beck was left staring at his unconscious Pokemon in shock. He had thought Igneous looked fine. He had never imagined that the Numel had become so weak from taking a few grazing hits that one more blow would have felled him. But then, Igneous had maintained a perfectly blank look on his face the entire battle, not reacting at all to anything he had taken—nor did he sustain very noticeable wounds, making it impossible for Beck to realize just how much damage was done.

Beck then remembered reading somewhere that Numel were somewhat immune to pain. He winced, wanting to slap himself for forgetting such a simple fact. His own carelessness had caused his Pokemon injury.

Igneous stirred and attempted to rise.

"Good job," Beck mumbled, quickly returning Igneous to his Pokeball before he could injure himself further in moving too much. The Oddish seemed to be in somewhat better shape, shaking off its dizziness and stumbling back towards the bushes, where it was probably planning to hide itself, burying in the ground until it recovered. Beck frowned at it, the fact that he had lost against the first random wild Pokemon he encountered stinging quite a lot.

Almost as an afterthought, or perhaps in whimsical attempted avengement of Igneous, Beck hurled a Pokeball at the weakened Oddish. The capsule shot after it, hit it on the head with a solid sound, and with a loud zap, the surprised Grass-type was whisked into the Pokeball.

One, two, three—_clink_.

Beck blinked at the silent capsule on the ground, stooped to pick it up. He stared at it in surprise for a moment before realizing he now had _two_ injured Pokemon on hand, and then fleeing back to Mauville.

* * *

><p>Fortunately, Igneous did not show discouragement despite his loss against the Oddish, who was now his teammate. Unfortunately, he did not show any encouragement either. He did not react too much to anything that Beck said.<p>

Despite that, they were doing pretty well—they had adopted an efficient strategy to fighting other wild Oddishes, success which shot up greatly when Igneous learned Ember.

Beck was just beginning to feel better about himself, when he walked out of the bushes in a careless manner and was pinned down by a Pokemon Breeder.

"Your Pokemon looks strong," the Breeder declared, raising a Pokeball in challenge. Beck knew he had already locked eyes, and was forced to reluctantly send out Igneous.

"Go! Whismur!"

The round purple creature appeared in a flash of light, quivering where it stood. Despite its helpless appearance, Beck knew it was still deadly; he once had a neighbor who kept one and that thing could get _loud. _

"Keep your distance," he called to his Numel. "Use Ember!"

Igneous took in a breath and blew out a stream of small glowing cherry-colored specks. The Whismur whimpered as the hot coals pounded against it.

"Whismur, use Uproar!"

That was what Beck had feared. The Whismur began to wail, the sound waves pounding mercilessly through the air, causing nearby trees to sway with the force. The boy covered his ears as he shouted above the din, "_Ember_!"

If Igneous was pained by the noise, he didn't show it. He hissed a stream of sparks against his foe once more, causing it to scream even louder. Immediately after though, the Whismur's howls turned into whimpers. Beck spotted a bright red mark on its side where the Ember attack had hit—it had been badly burned.

"Quickly, use Tackle!" Beck shouted. He smiled triumphantly, as Igneous smashed into the Whismur, sending it skidding into the dirt. The Pokemon Breeder frowned a little, but switched out to a Zigzagoon.

Beck stared at the new Pokemon for a while and his eyes drifted to his opponent's belt. To the boy's horror, there was not two or even three Pokeballs there, but _six. _His heart sank. There was no way that Igneous and his newly captured Oddish would be able to defeat six consecutive opponents like this.

"Zizagoon, use Quick Attack!"

Igneous was forced back, as the raccoon Pokemon streaked forward with blinding speed. Beck watched his Pokemon with concern, having no idea how badly injured he was, by the earlier Uproar attacks. Should he stop the battle? Or was Igneous still able to easily continue?

As he deliberated, the Breeder took the opportunity to attack again. This time, Igneous stumbled and Beck decided that was enough.

"Okay, okay, I give," he called, readying some of the cash he had on hand to surrender as prize money. He still had Oddish in reserve, but it was impossible to win even then, in a two-to-six match.

The Breeder looked rather smug and stepped towards him, hand outstretched to accept the money.

"What are you doing?" someone suddenly snapped from behind them. Beck whirled around and spotted a girl standing there, her arms crossed. She looked to be about a year or two older than him, dressed in flowing, all-black clothing—black furred boots, a black skirt and a tank top with a short-sleeved silky sweater over it. Her long flowing hair was a startling shade of magenta, a color which matched her plaid messenger bag.

"That's pretty dirty," the girl declared, her silver eyes flashing like a beam of starlight. "A battle of six-to-what? One? Two? How can you bully new Trainers like that? Don't admit defeat yet,"—she was addressing Beck now—, "Those who give up early won't make it to the Elite Four!"

Beck blinked, because her statements had just contradicted one another. How was he _not_ to give up or admit defeat when it was a six-to-two battle?

"Oh it's you," the Pokemon Breeder said, a crestfallen look on his face. He sounded irritated. "Look, all because you beat me doesn't mean you can—,"

"You can't just beat up on new Trainers with _six_ Pokemon," the girl retorted coolly, gracefully whipping out her own Pokeball. "You're not the only one with a full team. Do you wish learn that again?"

The Breeder looked clearly affronted now. "We've improved from last time," he said angrily. "Don't underestimate us!"

Beck could only stand there, absolutely bewildered, as the Pokemon Breeder turned his Zigzagoon against the girl. She smirked, sending out an Umbreon. The elegant black Pokemon let out a bark of excitement.

"Let's go Stark—Dark Pulse!" the girl shouted, pointing forward like she was ordering a cavalry charge. The Umbreon sprung forward, unleashing a ring of black energy that streaked towards the Zigzagoon. The poor creature had no chance to dodge. The black mass was shot in such a way that it was not able to jump high enough.

A moment later, the Zigzagoon thumped back down into the dirt, unconscious. The Pokemon Breeder, looking frustrated, sent out an Aron next.

While all of this was happening, Beck hurried over to Igneous and asked him if he was alright. The Numel nodded solemnly, but the boy gave him a Potion anyways. The Pokemon held still as the wound medicine was sprayed over the many tiny bruises visible over his flank.

By the time Beck looked back up, the Breeder was recalling his last Pokemon. "You have good Pokemon…" he muttered grudgingly, as he fished a handful of cash from his pocket.

The girl tilted her head in a dignified manner. "You can give that to him." She pointed to Beck.

"Eh?" said the boy, looking up in confusion.

"After all, you're the one who forced an unfair battle on him," she said sternly to the Breeder, who rolled his eyes briefly, but walked over to Beck with the money. The young Trainer hesitated, but accepted the prize money.

A moment later, the Breeder had stalked off, probably planning to avoid Beck and other newbies like him from then on, for fear of random veteran Trainers interceding.

"Breeders and their full teams," the girl sniffed as she walked over, her Umbreon loping by her side. "I remember how one jumped me once…that was a while ago and in a different region, but still." She smiled kindly at him. "Hi! Are you a new Trainer?"

"Yes," he said politely, remembering his manners. "I'm Beck, and I've just started my League challenge…Thanks for helping me out."

"No problem," she replied with a warm grin, absently flicking away a stray strand of her dark-pinkish hair. "My name is Sabriel. I've been a Trainer for a year, but I've only recently started in this region. I moved here from Johto."

Beck shook her extended hand. "Are you challenging the Hoenn League then?"

"Yep. I have two Badges! Say," she said brightly. "Since we're both out for the League, what do you say to traveling together with my friend and I?"

Beck thought she was referring to her Umbreon by "friend", and was surprised to see her call over another girl who appeared to be walking by. For a moment the other girl seemed to be ignoring Sabriel, and it took several tries for her to finally reluctantly walk over.

"This is Sarah," Sabriel said cheerfully. "She doesn't talk much, but she's very good with directions!"

"But I don't talk much," the girl called Sarah reiterated, a faint undertone of sarcasm in her voice.

"Ah…right," Beck said, unsure of what to say to that, reaching out to shake Sarah's hand as well. She was shorter than Sabriel and very slight, like a wind could blow her over. Her pale wintergreen eyes were half-closed and slightly sulky, her chestnut colored hair short and neat.

"Are you challenging Wattson?" Sabriel asked. "Why don't you train with us instead of those Breeders? That's one of the perks of traveling with friends—you can improve without bankrupting each other." She laughed lightly and knelt down to greet Igneous. "Hello there."

To Beck's surprise, the Numel lifted his head and seemed pleased to be stroked there, an almost friendly sound rumbling from him. Beck stared at Igneous before smiling back. "I'd love to travel with you guys. We could use some training for Wattson."

"That's great!" Sabriel straightened and turned to look at him. "Why don't we start now? Sarah, why don't you fight—Beck, was it?—with one of your Pokemon?"

The other girl shrugged and Sabriel seemed to take that for a "yes" and so Beck turned to face her. Sarah had three Pokeballs at her belt. She plucked one out and tossed it lazily onto the ground.

"Go, Furret," she said in a flat monotone, like it was mantra she had grown weary of hearing.

The Long Body Pokemon appeared in a white burst of light, tan colored fur flashing. Beck studied the Furret for a moment and ordered Igneous to use Ember.

"Furret, use Return."

The Pokemon was gone like a brown bolt of lightning, seemingly charging right into the spray of Ember. But every single speck of the Fire move hit the ground with a sizzle, missing their swift target. Igneous looked just as bewildered as Beck, his eyes unable to follow the fast movements of the blur that was his opponent. A moment later, the Furret reappeared with blinding speed and began pummeling Igneous on the head with its paws.

"Growl!" Beck cried, "Then use Tackle!"

The Numel, ignoring the hits to his face, let out a low grumble, making Furret pause enough to be surprised by the Tackle attack. Igneous attempted to Tackle again, but the Furret rolled out of the way with practiced agility and flashed behind him, aiming for the Numel's back.

Igneous was most likely rapidly weakening, but Furrets were light and fragile. Beck knew if he could land another Tackle or Ember, it would be slowed down enough to be taken down before Igneous was.

"Turn around! Use Ember!"

Igneous, with the red-hot coals sparking to life in his mouth, whipped around with surprising speed and managed to spew the attack into the Furret's face. The Long Body Pokemon let out a startled squeal and backed away. Beck shouted the order, but Igneous was already throwing himself at his opponent, Tackling the Furret into a nearby rock.

"Good job!" Beck called, a bubble of excitement rising in his chest over the victory. Their first victory. Sarah snorted lightly, glancing away, as the Furret sheepishly rose and shook itself out. The Pokemon tilted its head and looked over to its Trainer, but Sarah merely shook her head lightly. Beck's attention was brought away from their exchange, when Sabriel's voice rang out like a silver bullet in the air.

"I think you're ready for your Gym Battle!"

That was a little too sudden. "What," said Beck, turning and staring at Sabriel in disbelief.

She smiled at him confidently and repeated her earlier statement. "I think you're ready! Your Numel doesn't have the best defenses, but it has an advantage most inexperienced Pokemon don't," Sabriel explained, looking impressed. "It's not afraid to battle or get hurt or get down and dirty. You'll surprise anyone with its scrappiness. Sarah! You're the expert at this—when do you think his Numel will learn a Ground-type move to use against Wattson?"

"Magnitude is the first Ground move that Numel learns," Sarah drawled without looking at either of them, seeming uninterested in speaking with anyone at all. "Personally, I think it's a worthless move because of its unreliability."

Sabriel ignored her negativity and said brightly, "Alright, Beck! We can train until your Numel learns Magnitude!"

"That's probably going to take a long time," Beck pointed out, unwilling to be a burden. Sabriel winked at him, fishing into her backpack.

"Not if we use these."

Beck recognized the blue wrapped in her hand immediately. It was round and simple and unmarked, but it was most definitely a Rare Candy. "Th-that's…"

"Don't ask me how I got these," Sabriel said airily, tossing the Rare Candy into the air and then catching it again. "But I have a lot and I'm perfectly willing to share. Have one?"

Beck backed away, even though he wasn't the one eating the Rare Candy in any case. "That's cheating—I can't—,"

Sabriel leaned forward and Beck could see the lid of her bag jammed with the blue wrappers. Where on earth had she gotten so many of the rare item?

"Oh come on," Sabriel moved forward and offered the unwrapped candy to Igneous—who immediately took the treat from her outstretched hand.

"Wait!" It was too late, though. Beck watched, stricken, as his Pokemon swallowed the candy.

"It's just one level," Sabriel was already digging into her pocket for a second Rare Candy. "It's not like it does any harm. It just speeds things up."

Beck looked over to Sarah for help, but her face was impassive and indifferent. He didn't think she had been using Rare Candies on her Pokemon considering that her Furret had been beaten, but apparently, Sabriel had.

It wasn't until Igneous had eaten the second Rare Candy that Beck moved in to stop the process. He bit his lip, taking Numel by the head and pushing him away from the girl. Sabriel stared at him and for a moment, Beck thought he saw something dangerous flash in her eyes.

"Whatever," Sabriel said in an easygoing manner after a moment, leading Beck to believe he had imagined it. She shrugged cheerily, and not taking out anymore candy. "Your Numel's already close to learning Magnitude now anyways. Just hit a few more things and it'll know it."

Beck could say nothing to that, so he remained silent.

* * *

><p>"Back so soon, Beck?" Wattson asked heartily. "Let's see them, then!"<p>

"See what?"

"All the Pokemon you've caught, of course!"

Beck pointed to the Numel, who stood silently next to him, and then to the other Pokeball at his belt. "I have Igneous, and an Oddish."

The old man stared at him for a moment and then laughed again. "Only two? I see! You're confident! Well, you have right to be with your excellent Typing advantage. Alright, then—let's what you've got. Go, Electrike!"

The green Electric-type burst out of its capsule with an enthusiastic howl. The Electrike wagged its stubby tail, seeming to be waiting and Beck realized that Wattson was giving him the first move.

"Igneous, Ember!" The boy ordered. The Numel spat a barrage of glowing red, which his opponent swiftly dodged. The canine skidded backwards, legs tensing and crouching down in preparation for counterattack.

Beck could already foresee the Quick Attack coming—for that was the only thing Electrike could use against Igneous. "Igneous, get ready!"

Wattson ordered the attack.

Igneous waited, a half-closed and sleepy expression on his face. Beck was unable to follow the movements of the swift Electrike, but he knew that Igneous was—all the training sessions with Sarah and her lightning-fast Furret had paid off.

Just as the Electrike was about to collide with its target, Igneous threw himself forward, using his superior bulk to topple the startled canine over.

"Now, use Magnitude!" Beck cried, though he winced while saying it. Even though Igneous had eaten only two Rare Candies, it still felt wrong to be using a move that had partially come from that...

The Numel stomped on the ground. The floor quivered lightly but it was still enough to knock the weakened Electrike rolling. The canine hit the far wall and did not rise again.

"Impressive," Wattson exclaimed, as he withdrew his Pokemon. "Been training, eh? I see why you're so confident. Alright, I won't play around. Go Magneton! Magnet Rise!"

Beck had been expecting that and he shouted for an Ember at the same time. Igneous raised his head, and in a well-practiced maneuver, let out a spill of flaming bullets at the Steel-type.

The metal Pokemon looked surprised to take the Fire move to the face and let out an alarmed beeping noise.

"Ember again!"

But Magneton was faster. Wattson called, "Use Supersonic!"

Beck didn't hear anything, but suddenly Igneous's gaze went from vacant to cross-eyed and slightly frantic. Instead of using Ember, he stumbled forward a little and bumped into the wall.

"Oh no," the boy muttered, as he realized his Pokemon had become confused. He knew he couldn't afford to have Igneous knocked out—he hadn't even bothered to get to know the Oddish he had caught, let alone battle with it. "Snap out of it, Igneous! Use Ember!"

The Numel didn't react to his voice and Beck feared he would hurt himself again. Wattson took the opportunity to attack with Sonicboom. Igneous did not even flinch as he was struck by the attack and instead seem to focus his drooping eyes onto the enemy. After a rather ponderous pause, the Numel unleashed an Ember attack.

The Magneton once again had not been expecting that and blared in alarm as flames coursed through its body. It spun a little, seeming panicked, and landed onto the ground.

"Igneous—!" Beck shouted, hoping that he would be lucky even though it was unlikely. "_Magnitude_!"

Somehow, through the confusion, the Numel heard and comprehended and then executed. The ground shook furiously, throwing the boy off balance. When the dust cleared, Beck dared to peer upwards and see Igneous calmly standing over the fallen Magneton.

Another rumbling sound echoed through the air; this time it was Wattson's laughter. "I see! I've underestimated you, Beck. You've done well with that Numel."

* * *

><p>"You won?" Sabriel asked, looking perfectly delighted. "See? I told you that you can do it."<p>

Sarah offered no congratulations, merely shrugging and nodding when Beck showed her his first Badge.

Beck smiled uncomfortably, looking between both of his traveling partners. Sabriel met his gaze evenly, her eyes seeming to be full of joy over his victory.

Wrong. That look in her eyes was _wrong. _Somehow.

_She's not who you think, a_ voice hissed in his head, and Beck blinked uncertainly. He hesitated, thinking once again of the Rare Candies stocked so casually in Sabriel's bag. Where had she gotten all of them? Who was she? Did she _steal_ the Rare Candies…?

Beck shook his head quickly, wiping away those thoughts. Now he was just being ludicrous and paranoid. Perhaps Sabriel came from a rich family, or had simply been exceedingly lucky in her travels. It wasn't right to suspect her of any random crime that came to his mind.

"Hey Beck? We're headed for Fallarbor Town. Why don't you challenge Flannery next?"

Sabriel was looking at him expectantly. Beck returned her smile, nodded wiping away the last of his ridiculous doubts, and went with them as they walked towards the next destination.

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>Random people are introduced. Yay. :D<p>

So yeah...I'll be updating fairly quickly this week, but starting next week, I have STUFF, so the updates will slow considerably to, like, a chapter every week or two. Or three. Something like that.

So ya. Thanks for reading and have a nice day~ ^.^


	3. Breaking Glass

Nothing much to say about this, except that it's ridiculous. :D

Pokemon I still do not own.

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>Beck sighed and wiped the sand out of his nose, wincing as the sandstorm lashed against him. He was borrowing Sabriel's Go-Goggles, but they only protected his eyes—the rest of him was nowhere as fortunate. The owner of said Go-Goggles had not come with them into the desert.<p>

"I need to go," Sabriel had abruptly declared, stopping short as they were walking down Route 111.

"Go where?"

"Lavaridge Town," she had replied after a moment's hesitation. "There's something I want to pick up there."

"Aren't we headed over there anyways, right after we do some training in the desert?" Sarah had piped up, though not seeming to care either way.

"Yes, but I need to get something right now. You guys go ahead to the desert and train. When you're done, I'll meet you in Lavaridge Town."

That same nagging voice that had developed upon meeting Sabriel thought her sudden, hurried departure was odd. He disregarded it.

Sabriel's absence left Beck alone with the pillar of gloom named Sarah. She seemed to be either deep in thought or delibrately ignoring him, walking silently, a lithe shadow in the desert with the sand-stricken wind blowing her brown hair in whip-like bangles.

As though she sensed he was thinking of her, the girl looked up, regarded him flatly with her frosty forest eyes mirrored behind goggles, and then looked away again, obviously not interested in starting up with conversation.

He sighed and wiped more sand from his face.

Igneous, walking calmly beside him, didn't look the slightest bit uncomfortable at in the harsh environment. Beck took a moment to look at his Pokemon. If he was challenging Flannery next, he knew he would have to get another teammate. Oddish would not be able to face her Fire-types and Beck wasn't confident enough to have Igneous solo the Lavaridge Leader's entire team like they did with Wattson—and he was _not _resorting to Rare Candies.

Speaking of Oddish, Beck _still_ hadn't formally introduced himself to the Grass-type or even let it out of its Pokeball. Feeling guilty about being so remiss, the boy called a halt and tossed the Pokeball containing Oddish onto the ground. Sarah glanced at him briefly and then looked away, returning to watching the shifting rivers of sand, seeming more bored than impatient.

Oddish, fortunately, looked more timidly curious than bitter at being neglected or forgotten about altogether. Beck greeted the Oddish happily and introduced him to Igneous. As they resumed walking, the sand seemed to bother him. Igneous offered him a ride on his back, which the Grass-type accepted. Beck thought they were getting along fine.

He turned his thoughts back to his need for another Pokemon to challenge the Lavaridge Gym.

A Ground-type would be good, and the desert was full of them. Beck kept one eye peeled for nearby Pokemon and easily spotted the bright orange of a Trapinch that was half-buried in the sand ahead. That was a good Pokemon, certainly, and it would evolve into the powerful Flygon.

Sarah halted again, radiating a sort of blank, icy patience, as Beck had Igneous creep forward, hoping to surprise the Pokemon with a Tackle attack. The Numel wasn't really stealthy though, and the Trapinch immediately noticed him. With a low growl, the orange Pokemon charged forward and used Bite. Igneous shook the Trapinch off and blinked sleepily, awaiting orders.

His voice whipped and distorted by the howl of the raging sandstorm, Beck shouted, "Use Ember!"

The Trapinch rolled away from the fire and let out an aggressive hissing sound. Suddenly, the sand around it grew heavier and denser, forming a smothering cloaking cloud. The wave slammed into Igneous like a great maw, dragging the Numel by the legs into the ground.

"Sand Tomb," Sarah observed calmly. "You're in trouble now."

Beck tried to recall Igneous and switch out to Oddish (like he should have done immediately), but the heavy sand seemed to block the red ray of light from the Pokeball. Igneous weakly sprayed another Ember attack at the Trapinch, who growled at him again, before turning and vanishing into the shifting veil of the sandstorm.

With the Trapinch's departure, Igneous finally managed to pull himself free of the sand's choking hold. The Numel shook the dust from his coat, his eyes half-closed and unfazed.

"It got away," Beck said dumbly. A slight smile tugged at the corner of Sarah's mouth.

"Maybe you'll have better luck with that Baltoy over there. They're less fierce," she said lightly, gesturing to the top-like Pokemon that seemed to be passing by without seeing them. Beck nodded determinedly, withdrew Igneous and sent Oddish after their target.

"Absorb!" Beck called. Oddish was lighter on his feet, and this time, Beck managed to catch his quarry by surprise. The Baltoy let out a low alarmed noise as roots wrapped around it. The top Pokemon turned to retaliate, only to have Stun Spore thrown in its face.

"Absorb, one more time."

Oddish did a cheerful twirl and obeyed. The Baltoy let out a whimper and ceased struggling. Beck took the opportunity to throw a Pokeball, giving the capsule a little backspin as he hurled it.

"Good job," Sarah said mildly, as the capsule clinked for the third time. Beck went to retrieve his new team member proudly, letting it out and beginning what would be the established introduction. "Hello. My name's Beck, and these are my friends..."

* * *

><p>Sabriel was still nowhere in sight when they arrived at Lavaridge Town.<p>

"Maybe she went to the hot springs," answered Sarah, upon being questioned by Beck. "Why don't you go challenge Flannery first? I'm sure she'll return by the time you're done."

"What about you? Aren't you challenging her too?"

Sarah showed him the Lava Badge already in her case and that ended the conversation and Beck's attempt at stalling.

The boy sighed as he reluctantly rose from where he was resting on a bench. They had trained in the desert for several hot hours and Sarah did not seem to know the meaning of the word "restraint". Her Furret had given his team a harsh beating—the Long Body Pokemon had even smacked at Beck a few times upon Sarah's orders, when the girl thought he wasn't focusing hard enough. It didn't take Beck long to realize he had won against Sarah the first time only because she let him.

Her training regime was the stuff of horrors, but at least Beck could feel his bond with his Pokemon tighten—even if it was mutual fear of Sarah's Furret.

Beck wanted to rest, to hold off his Gym match until tomorrow, but Sarah insisted that he challenge Flannery while he and his team were warmed-up and conditioned, the rush of battle still streaming fresh through them.

Muttering something about slave drivers, Beck threw one last glance over to Sarah—who wasn't looking at him at all—and entered the large building.

The inside of the Gym was uncomfortably steamy and hot, the white smoke forming solid walls of heat and misery. After several tries, Beck finally managed to successfully navigate the geyser maze and make it, drenched with geyser water, to the Gym Leader. The room was a large one, with a large window taking the place of the entire ceiling, letting ample sunlight in.

"A new challenger huh," Flannery said, examining him with excitement dancing in her fiery eyes. "Looks like you've got three Pokemon. What do you say to a three-on-three match?"

Beck smiled back and sent out Igneous.

"Go, Slugma!"

Beck studied the fire slug Pokemon in front of him intently, nodding absently as he was told the challenger was allowed to make the first move, and that item usage was prohibited for the match and that he was the only one allowed to switch out.

"Igneous, use Magnitude."

"Slugma, Smog!"

Flannery knew her Pokemon wouldn't be able to dodge the Ground attack and was hoping to get some damage in. Igneous executed his attack, but was in turn unable to avoid the noxious purple gas that was sprayed into his face. He coughed, shuddered, and Beck was alarmed to see his stolid Pokemon shiver violently.

_Poisoned, _Beck realized in horror. He had gotten lucky though, with the power of the Magnitude attack—Slugma was in a faint on the ground so Igneous had not been poisoned in vain. Flannery seemed confident with the Numel having a harmful status problem. She sent out a Camerupt.

Igneous's succeeding evolution towered over him like a great rocky mountain over a tiny rounded foothill. The Numel gave his opponent a cool, lazy, unruffled look, but had to look away to cough from the poison. Beck quickly switched him out for Baltoy. Flannery grinned, like she could see her victory already.

"Sunny Day!" she crowed. Beck realized her plan too late.

"Quickly—Baltoy, use Mud Slap!" Beck cried desperately, hoping that it would KO. It wasn't even close—the Camerupt shook the mud off with a snarl. The heat intensified as the glare of the sun flowing from the wide window that was the ceiling turned hot and harsh. The sunlight was now a blinding golden wall, spears that pierced at Beck's eyes and forced him to look down.

"Mud Slap again!" Beck tried, but the Camerupt was faster.

"Overheat!" Flannery shouted triumphantly, as though she were leading a battle charge.

There was nothing Beck could do but watch, as the little Baltoy was pummeled by the sun-boosted fire-blitzing move. In one hit that probably could have knocked it out many times over, Baltoy was flung into the nearby wall, where it made a smoldering crater.

Beck winced with the sound and apologetically recalled the unconscious Pokemon. He saw Flannery laugh, patting her Camerupt on the flank, celebrating her victory already. Under the intensified rays of the sun, Fire moves were powered up greatly. Along with Overheat—a massively powerful move in itself—she seemed well on her way to an uncontested sweep of Beck's team.

The boy breathed in deeply, looking down at his two Pokeballs. Igneous was poisoned, which meant he wouldn't be able to take many hits. That left…

"You're in charge, Oddish!" He threw the Pokeball high into the air so that it glinted in the bright sun.

The Fire Gym Leader gave him the oddest of looks, and Beck grinned back.

"Use Absorb!" he shouted. The Grass-type darted forward, ensnaring the Camerupt with roots from the ground.

"Take it out with Overheat!" Flannery ordered impatiently, as her Pokemon recovered from the Absorb attack. Camerupt lifted its large head, nostrils flaring with matching annoyance. The blistering beam of flame shot in a mighty spurt from Camerupt, searing towards Oddish in a manner that might have burned him to ash right there. Instead of being incinerated, the Grass-type danced gracefully out of the way and launched another Absorb. Camerupt reeled from this hit and attempted Overheat once again—and once more, Oddish dodged easily, prancing through the battlefield with speed that matched Sarah's Furret. Whenever the Camerupt tried to blast him, Oddish always managed to avoid it.

The attack may have been powerful, but it was worthless if it couldn't hit. That was something Beck had learned as he watched his Pokemon spin about in confusion as they attempted to hit Sarah's Furret.

"How…?" Flannery began to demand. And then her eyes widened, her mouth opened in surprise before settling into an impressed smile. "I see. Your Oddish's special ability Chlorophyll, which raises its Speed in the sun…very clever. But it's not enough!" She pointed forward. "Camerupt...!"

Beck leaned forward, knowing his Oddish was still faster. "One more time—Absorb!"

The Camerupt crumpled, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

The Fire Gym Leader stared in shock as the boy and his Oddish cheered at their victory. She shakily put a smile back on her face, putting her hands on her lips. "Okay, you're pretty tough. But how's this—let's finish this, Torkoal!"

The iron-clad turtle entered the battlefield with a hoarse cry. White smoke plumed around it, seeming to cloak it partially from view. Knowing Absorb would be no use against a pure Fire-type, Beck ordered Oddish to use Acid.

Still drawing strength from the sun, the Grass-type swiftly launched a spray of purple right into the Torkoal's eyes. It groaned, shaking its head to get rid of the liquid.

"Again!"

As Oddish shot another spurt of Acid, Flannery called for Torkoal to use Attract. The turtle obeyed, tilting its head in an odd manner and turned to gaze at Oddish in a piercing and very strange way. The Grass-type halted immediately, a distant look appearing on his face, small eyes widening.

"What are you doing? Use Acid!" Oddish didn't seem to hear Beck. He stood frozen, immobolized...by love...

Apparently, the Torkoal was a female.

"Use Body Slam!" Flannery yelled. After much shouting from Beck, Oddish seemed to hear and started to dodge, but just then, the sunlight faded. Like all the strength had been drained from his body, the Grass-type visibly deflated. The Body Slam connected solidly, hurling him across the floor. Oddish rose slowly a moment later, still looking undoubtedly smitten at the sight of his opponent. Torkoal charged. Beck groaned.

"Poisonpowder," he called halfheartedly, doubting that he would be heard. To his mild surprise, Oddish looked up just as the turtle slammed into him, releasing a spurt of violet dust. The Torkoal let out a squeal of shock, as she inhaled the stuff, and then she started wheezing from the poison.

Oddish tumbled to the ground, knocked out, but Beck felt a surge of pride. Oddish had fought well and he had still managed to land one crucial move before being taken out.

That left Beck with one Pokemon.

"It's up to you, Igneous," he said, as he threw the capsule. The Numel appeared with a stubborn and stoic look on his face like he was determined not to show that he was poisoned at all. Torkoal had a similar expression on. Both were weakened by poison. It would be a contest of endurance, as well as skill.

Thanks to Igneous's Oblivious ability though, he would at least be safe from Attract. The boy shouted, "Use Magnitude!"

"Body Slam!" Flannery retorted. Torkoal lunged forward as the earth began to shake. Igneous maintained a blank expression as he stumbled away and then fought back with Tackle. The two Pokemon collided, each being thrown back a moment later. They were both breathing very heavily, the effects of the poison taking its toll.

This had to be finished quickly.

Beck cried, "Use Tackle!" at the same time Flannery yelped, "Body Slam!"

They clashed again, kicking up spurts of wild dust.

* * *

><p>Sarah raised an eyebrow as Beck stumbled out of the Gym, sweat-drenched, covered in dust, and exhausted and looking as though he had participated personally in the Gym Battle.<p>

"Did you win?" she thrust the question out bluntly, like a cold dagger. Beck stared at her for a moment.

He shook his head.

Sarah paused, as though preparing to say something. Beck was faster though.

"I don't know," he added wearily.

"What do you mean you 'don't know'?" she asked, her voice a bit sharp. The boy shrugged. Sarah paused for a moment, her pale wintergreen eyes unamused, like she suspected he was trying to bait a reaction out of her.

Beck sighed. "It looked like a tie. Both Pokemon fell at the same time. But they gave me the Badge anyway…for effort. Or maybe there's a rule that says ties go as victory to the challenger. I...don't know."

Sarah looked slightly amused at that, as she took in his disheveled appearance further. "Well you got the Badge. Isn't that what matters?"

Beck shrugged again. "I guess." He glanced around and realized Sarah was alone. He repeated his earlier question. "Where's Sabriel? Wasn't she supposed to meet us here?"

Sarah returned the shrug. A nagging suspicion began to burn in the back of Beck's mind—the same unreasonable voice from before shouting anew. Beck couldn't help but listen to its words now though.

_Going off randomly all by herself...that's got to be suspicious, _the voice hissed. _Don't trust her!_

The boy rolled his eyes at the renewed absurdity and tried to press it down. He remarked,"You said she would be back by now, but she's not."

"Maybe she's busy with whatever she's doing," was the dry reply. Sarah was twiddling with a Pokeball aimlessly, her gaze on the sky.

A pause. "Did something happen?"

"Why would you think that?" Her voice was low and casual. Beck stared at her for a moment.

"Could you take my Pokemon to the Center and heal them? I'm going to look for her." Without waiting for her reply, Beck put his three Pokeballs into her hands and quickly headed off towards some houses, pretending not to hear her rather indignant call after him.

Beck jogged towards an alleyway, the strange nagging suspicion augmenting further. This was the only part of Lavaridge Town not obviously in the open, far from the crowded hot springs and the Gym. If she wasn't there, than Sabriel must be around here, Beck reasoned.

Something tingled in the back of his mind, a strange chill going down his spine, as he slowly approached a corner that he had just been about to pass by. When he heard soft voices talking, Beck automatically slowed and then halted altogether when he recognized Sabriel's voice. Stepping forward quietly, Beck tilted his head and managed to catch a whispered conversation.

"…apparently it's Code Orange," Sabriel was saying, sounding irritated.

"How much has been compromised?" It was a man's voice, a rough, gruff growl that Beck imagined belonged to someone big and burly.

_What are they talking about? _Beck wondered, his eyes narrowing. _Who_ was Sabriel talking to?

"Too much," was Sabriel's reply. "They probably have half our intelligence right now. One of their agents is in this town right now—,"

Agents? Beck blinked in utter bewilderment and leaned forward even further.

"Right now?" the man hissed in outrage. "Then what are you doing? They could be on us right now…"

"They are," Sabriel answered smugly. "One of them is right here, listening in on us."

Beck flinched, despite himself. He heard rapid footsteps and the boy shrunk away, half-expecting the owner of the growling voice to pounce on him right there. Instead, there was a yelp from another direction, the sound of someone else being grabbed from behind something and then slammed against the wall.

"Gotcha!" the growling man snarled. "Is this the one?"

"Yep and a really bad eavesdropper he is," Sabriel said. Beck was unable to resist creeping forward some more, peeping over to see what was happening.

The growling man with the growling voice was just like Beck had envisioned—big and burly, thuglike, unruly dark hair framing a frowning bearded face. He towered over Sabriel like a cement truck. He was holding a boy against the wall. That boy had a pair of excruciatingly calm, pale icy blue eyes, the color of a frozen-over lake. He looked about Sabriel's age. His hair was fair, a dustier shade of blonde than Beck's, and also curly rather than straight.

Beck was alarmed by the act of violence. He wondered if he should return to the busier part of the town and call for help. He tried to move his muscles, but they seemed to be frozen, frosted over by a strange force and sapped of strength, like the entire scene was a surrealistic dream in a stormy lightning-cut sky.

Birds. Something about birds.

Beck blinked in confusion at that sudden unrelated train of thought that drifted into his mind.

"Hey let go…you're going to choke me," the captured boy said with alarming calm, a faint smirk on his face. Sabriel seemed to be absently playing with something metal pinned to her collar; her eyes were on the rooftops nearby.

"You're one of them huh?" the growling man growled at his prisoner. "What should I do with him?"

The ice-eyed boy raised an eyebrow and interrupted before Sabriel could reply. "What should you do with me? Why, I should be asking you guys that question."

Sabriel stiffened, and even Beck heard the clatter of metal, the distinct sound of Pokeballs activating. Beck gasped and ducked back around his corner, as he spotted the heads of many Pokemon suddenly glaring down from the roof surrounding the three he had been watching. There were people with those Pokemon, looking like Trainers, but with deadlier intents in their stern eyes. They were all dressed in black, in something like armored uniforms.

Beck was fearful that he had been seen by the threatening-looking people, but he was also afraid that if he tried to run, he would be heard. He stayed frozen, wishing desprately that he had his own Pokemon with him, crouched behind the corner which hopefully hid him from view.

"You're the ones who are cornered," the ice-eyed boy mocked. Someone shouted for something to use Rock Throw. Amid the crashing of stones, the man that was grabbing the boy gave a cry and there was a thump as he fell.

"Let's go, Stark and Savv!" Beck remembered and recognized the name of Sabriel's Umbreon. Her second Pokemon—the one called "Savv"—let out a bellowing roar and Beck did not dare peek over to see exactly what it was.

The distinct cry of an Absol echoed and there was a crash, as Razor Wind ripped violently through the alleyway. A rush of flames lapped at the far rooftop and Beck heard someone cry out. This was most definitely no friendly battle.

_What in the name of Arceus is happening?_ Beck thought frantically.

He fought the urge to look back over again, fearful for Sabriel's safety but still also of being spotted himself. A Thunderbolt attack hissed off the walls.

"Savv, use Earthquake!"

He did _not_ like the sound of that.

This time, Beck curled into a ball, whimpered as the very ground seemed to break open. The force of it threw him forward a few feet, banging his head against something hard and metal. For a moment, his vision turned fuzzy, tinged with gray lightning and distant, half-imagined clouds. Sound came in seperated chinks, rumbling like thunder over mountains. Before his senses returned to reality, Beck thought he spotted the shadow of something wheeling above in the sky.

More footsteps slapping against the ground…and then Beck was aware of someone staring at him. He gasped, expecting to be grabbed and manhandled like the boy earlier.

"_What_ are you doing here?" Sabriel's voice demanded. Beck looked up, seeing her face and the face of her Umbreon and the face of a snarling Gyarados.

"Hi," he said weakly. Sabriel opened her mouth, her eyes blazing dangerously, but a bolt of electricity narrowly missing their heads cut her off.

"Get down!" Sabriel pulled him behind a nearby dumpster in the alley.

"What's going on?" The boy whispered, gasping as something he swore was a bullet whizzed past his head. An Electivire let out an angry growl as it unleashed another bolt of electricity that Stark countered with a Dark Pulse. The Gyarados growled as some sparks grazed it and Sabriel quickly withdrew the Water Pokemon.

She was silent for a moment as she stared at the Pokeball in her hand, her eyes calm and contemplative even amid the chaos. Then she said, eyes glittering strangely, "Do you really want to know?"

"_Yes!"_

She leaned back casually. "Alright. I'll tell you. I'm really a spy."

"...a what?" Beck said blankly, like he had never heard such a term in his life.

"A spy. You know. Secret agents. Cool gadgets. Espionage…" Her tone was conversational and level.

"I see," Beck said, with an eyebrow raised, convinced that it was all a joke now. He began to rise, when Sabriel pulled him down again, her grip clawlike.

"What are you doing?" she snapped. "Are you trying to get killed?"

"Because you're really a spy," Beck said, laughing lightly. She stared at him, not a single speck of humor in her silver eyes. There was another explosion behind them.

"You're…really a spy...?" Beck whispered, some kind of ridiculous dark reality descending on him like an iron cloak.

"That's what I said, didn't I?" Sabriel hissed, ducking as metal debris scattered over their heads. "Spies have enemies, enemies try to kill you. The basics. Haven't you ever read a _book?_"

"That's…"

"Talk later," she knelt and drew another Pokeball from her belt. "Stark—use Protect. Cover us."

The Umbreon obeyed and cast a shimmering shield over them. Sabriel threw the Pokeball, hard, over the dumpster and then ducked back down like she had just tossed a grenade. There was a fierce roar from that direction as the Pokeball's occupant began attacking. Attacks flew through the air with renewed fury, as the two Trainers half-crawled along the alley, occasionally pausing to duck behind a sturdy structure.

Sirens suddenly broke through the noise.

"This commotion's already attracted police," Sabriel whispered harshly. "You and I are going to play the innocent Trainers who were caught in a battle that suddenly turned deadly. We're the victims."

"The victims," Beck echoed. Then his eyes widened. "We're going to get questioned by the _police_?"

She snorted. "_You_ have nothing to worry about, since you've got nothing to hide. Don't worry about me though," she added, upon Beck's worried look. "I'm good at what I do."

The sirens drew closer and the Trainers of the enemy Pokemon cursed and called for retreat. There was the collective sound of Pokemon being withdrawn, and then the fading footsteps of the people fleeing back over the rooftops. Sabriel peered over and withdrew whatever beast she had sent to fight them, before ducking back over.

The police arrived, just like Sabriel said. By then, all of the combatants, including the burly man Sabriel had been talking to and the ice-eyed boy, had vanished.

The police were just as confused as Beck was, questioning him lightly and shortly, but letting him go soon afterwards. As the officers surveyed the damaged alleyway, Sabriel quickly led Beck away.

"They're still watching us," she murmured into his ear. "Even though the police are here, they're following us...walk ahead of me. We may still be ambushed."

"By who?"

"Be quiet," was all she said, glancing around with narrowed eyes. She stopped at a ladder which led up to the roof of a building. "We're going up."

"What? Why—?"

"Hurry up."

Beck met her flat silver eyes which were blank and uncompromising, and sullenly obeyed. He managed to heave himself up onto the roof…only to find himself surrounded by three of the earlier Trainers dressed in black uniforms. One of them tried to grab him, but Sabriel was faster. She shoved Beck aside and tripped the man, hurling a Pokeball while she was at it. Stark the Umbreon emerged and tackled the others, his teeth bared in a snarl.

By the time Beck's eyes had managed to follow the movements of his companions, Sabriel and Stark had all three of the men subdued. The girl held one of them by the throat, pressing his head to the wall.

"You..." the man gasped, his bulging eyes locking on a small pin on Sabriel's collar. "The one they just sent! But aren't...you're—Oriole—?"

She silenced him by tossing him over the roof.

Beck gaped, as Stark followed his Trainer's example, grabbing the two other struggling men by their clothing and hurling them down.

As Sabriel jogged back to him, all Beck could manage to say was, "Who's Oriole?"

"That would be me," Sabriel replied with a faint smile. "That's my codename." She winked at him, and jingled the pin on her collar. It was in the shape of some kind of black and bright orange bird. "It's a spy thing, right?"

"Oh…" Beck peered fearfully over to where the men had been tossed and was surprised to find nothing.

"They've escaped," Sabriel said to his unspoken question. "But that was still quite fun..." A feral smile curved on her lips. Her voice was calm and too casual. "Come on. Sarah will be waiting for us."

Too shaken to ask any more questions, Beck could only follow his companion silently back to the Pokemon Center.

"What were you guys up to?" Sarah asked disinterestedly, upon spotting them. She frowned a little and tilted her head at the sound of the distant sirens. She was leaning back against a wall and tossed Beck's three Pokeballs at him. He was too distracted to thank her for healing his Pokemon for him.

"Oh nothing," Sabriel answered airily. "Nothing interesting at all."

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><p>.<p>

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><p>Ridiculous, yes? Excellent! I love ridiculous conspiracy. :D<p>

Just watched some spy movies. So ya~ ^.^

Thanks for reading~ ^.^


	4. Fracture Midnight

You thought the last chapter was ridiculous? Well enjoy this one. xD

Disclaimer: No matter how much ridiculous I stick in it, Pokemon is not owned by me.

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><p>.<p>

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><p>Beck found himself unable to meet Sabriel's eyes the next day, as they walked along the route to Fallarbor Town. He had a hundred questions that he was itching to ask, but Sabriel made a point to act perfectly normal, albeit laughing a little louder than usual and walking with a deliberate, skittish bounce in her step. The orange bird pin she had worn was also missing, and she fidgeted with a bracelet on her wrist instead. It was obvious she was pretending that nothing had happened and was not willing to answer anything.<p>

The boy was still rewinding the memories of yesterday, trying to figure out if what Sabriel said was true, or if it was all still one big prank. If it _was_ true, then who exactly was Sabriel "spying" for? Why was she traveling with them? And the people dressed in black, dubbed as her enemies—that ice-eyed boy—who were they?

In his distraction, Sarah had to nearly hit him to get his attention.

"Oy. _Beck._" She tapped him again on the shoulder. The boy started and blinked at her like she was some sort of ghost that had just emerged from the Distortion World.

"Over there." Sarah pointed to the sky, her half-closed green eyes focusing on something. The wind blew at her hair and made a pair of small dangling Pokeball-shaped earrings she wore jingle lightly. "See it?"

Beck blinked again and quizzically followed her gaze. Wheeling amid the falling ash that constantly showered the route was a silver shadow that the weak sun glinted off of. Like a falling star in the night, it shimmered rather conspicuously as it circled the sky above them. It was…a bird?

A bird…

"What is it?" he asked, squinting, brushing some ash out of his sandy hair.

"It's a Skarmory," Sarah replied, glancing over to Sabriel.

"I see it," the other girl said, shrugging. She turned to look at him and her silver eyes made him cringe for some reason. "Hey Beck, why don't you try to catch it? Those things are rare, you know."

"Oh." Beck had heard of the metal birds and he had seen some Trainers with them. They looked strong and magnificent and he decided he did indeed want one for his lineup. "Alright. Go, Igneous! Ember!"

The Numel raised his head, fixed his eyes on the metallic glint in the air, and shot a spurt of flame. His aim was perfect, and there was a terrible screech of outrage that echoed across the field, as the hot coals hit the Skarmory, bouncing off of its armored body with discernable clinks. The Pokemon immediately dived downwards to confront the threat and Beck ordered Igneous to attack with Ember again.

The Skarmory let out another cry of anger, streaking down in a Fury Attack that Igneous took to the face, admiringly without flinching at all. The Numel batted the Steel-type aside with his head.

"One more time!" Beck yelled. Igneous managed to hit their quarry with another sputter of embers, this time causing the weakened metal avian to crash, skidding on the ash-coated ground. The boy took the opportunity to throw an empty Pokeball. It sucked the startled Skarmory in, wobbled once, twice, and then burst open again in angry white light.

"Shoot," Beck murmured, readying another one. The escaped Skarmory hissed angrily, picked itself up and fled into the air. Igneous shot another volley of Ember at it, but the bird was faster, dodging and vanishing into the veils of falling ash.

"Ah…" said the boy, disappointed. Sarah had her solemn lake-green eyes glued to the sky for a moment more, before shrugging at his failure and turning as though to leave.

A faintly playful smile danced on Sabriel's lips. "Do you want it?"

"Want what?" Beck asked warily. The voice in the back of his head, the Suspicion Voice, roared to life and screamed of some sort of trick even though out here, in the plain view of some nearby Trainers and Sarah, there was nothing that could be pulled.

"The Skarmory, of course. Do you want it?" Sabriel tilted her head, smiling at him amiably.

"But...it got away…"

The spy seemed to pout. "You underestimate me." With that, she hurled one of her Pokeballs into the air. "Get 'em, Savv!"

Her Gyarados emerged with a roar that shook the air and blasted apart the curtain of ash. The Water-type uncoiled into the sandy sky, shooting with remarkable speed through the dust. A moment later, another long drawn-out screech was heard; Savv returned with the struggling escaped Skarmory caught rather cruelly in his large jaws.

Beck wasn't sure how to react until he was elbowed in the ribs by Sabriel. The boy muttered something and tossed a second Pokeball at the Skarmory.

This time, the bird stayed in the capsule.

Feeling a great deal of gratitude to Sabriel for her help and guilt for suspecting her of wrongdoing—spy, or not—Beck rushed to retrieve his new Pokemon. He was feeling rather pleased, because he had four Pokemon now, had caught them all within a short period of time, and four seemed like a good, solid number.

"Good job," said Sarah monotonously—whether to Sabriel or Beck, the boy couldn't tell. Sabriel smiled modestly and shrugged as Beck attempted to thank her, recalling her Gyarados with a deft flick of her wrist.

"We should keep moving," she said, glancing around in a slightly odd manner. Beck was too preoccupied with his newly caught Pokemon to question her, as they pressed on with a strange sense of urgency.

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><p>They rested for a while in Fallarbor Town, where Beck got to know his newly caught Skarmory, which he nicknamed "Solo". The bird seemed to be just as sulky as Sarah often was, refusing to look at him and sitting in a corner dejectedly. He did, however, perk up a little when Beck offered him some sugar he meant to put in the tea he had purchased. Little things, it seemed, were the key.<p>

Igneous, he discovered on the other hand, absolutely hated sweets. The Numel had made a face upon seeing the sugar cubes and refused to go within one feet of Solo as long as the Skarmory was eating them.

Beck would have liked to stay in the town, but Sabriel seemed to be in an awful hurry and she pushed them to leave even as the afternoon melded into twilight and it was obvious that they couldn't make it to Rustboro before dusk. She lead them on a brisk pace, seeming worried about something, her eyes clouded with thought. When Sarah was ambushed by a Trainer and left them briefly to battle, Beck once again wanted to ask Sabriel about the incident at Lavaridge and her occupation. She seemed, however, too preoccupied, her eyes darting occasionally to the trees and rocks and sky, like frightening things would dive out at any time.

When they reached the mouth of the Meteor Falls cave, dark had swept down the heavens, falling in black ribbons, and Sabriel finally decided to stop for the night. Beck didn't understand why they didn't spend the night in Fallarbor, but he didn't complain, helping Sarah gather firewood and set up a camping spot.

He was too exhausted by the events of the day to stay awake past dinner and curled up in a less bumpy area of the ground, close to the campfire after unhooking the four Pokeballs at his belt and setting them nearby. Sarah was sitting on the opposite side of the campfire, staring distantly to the east.

"We should get some sleep," she said, to no one in particular. Sabriel nodded absently and continued sorting something in her bag, but Beck needed no other persuasion. Using his backpack as a pillow, he laid down and closed his eyes.

The cackling of the flames quickly lulled him to sleep.

At first, his sleep was undisturbed, unbothered. Then, a dream descended upon him with dark claws, gripping him tightly in a world of falling, bleeding feathers. He was a bird again, and his wings had been torn off—he was falling, falling. Pain engulfed him, terror, and he cried out to a wheeling shape—wheeling and spinning and gliding like a wooden toy kite, like the Skarmory he had caught had been doing— that flew smoothly above him for help. The shape paused at the sound of his pleas, flapping its broad shadowed wings, and then resumed circling lazily, watching pitilessly as Beck fell screaming into the darkness below.

The boy woke with a half-muffled cry, clutching his wing—no his arm, which should have been torn off, but wasn't. Bewildered, he shot up and nearly tripped Sabriel who had been attempting to step around him.

"Ugh…" Beck groaned, realizing the girl had accidently stepped on his arm. "Oh...Sabriel…what are you doing up?"

"I'm j-just…" Sabriel trailed off, sounding startled, her voice at an odd key. Her Umbreon was standing by her side, eyes glinting dangerously. The silver disk of the moon hung low in the late midnight sky, cradled between two heavy blankets of clouds and shedding ethereal luminosity over the flat land that led up to the mountainous caverns of Meteor Falls.

"What are you doing?" Beck asked with a yawn, sitting up straight and trying to rub the heaviness from his eyes.

"Nothing. I'm just going to get a drink of water. Go back to sleep." Her voice had gone back to a friendly pitch, smooth and persuasive and innocent.

But something was off.

Beck shook his head and struggled to focus his eyes on Stark. The Umbreon stared back, something like a snarl on his face. His teeth were bared, and he was crouched, like he had been about to pounce right on top of Beck.

"That's…" Beck began, eyes widening. Sabriel seemed to realize something and hissed an order. The boy let out a muffled _oof_ as Stark dove at him, pinning him down with strong paws. Beck struggled, but his efforts were futile, his arms restrained. His Pokeballs lay silently, a good three feet out of reach.

"I really didn't want you to wake up," Sabriel said softly, standing over him like a death angel. The white-washed light streamed through her wind-whipped pale magenta hair, giving it an otherworldly sheen. Her gleaming eyes, matching the color of the pitiless moon, were unreadable. "You wouldn't have felt a thing. But now…"

Weak light danced in her eyes, a deadly dance that matched the one in Stark's eyes. "I don't have anything against you. But you _know_ and because of that, I can't let you live."

Beck began to say something, but the Umbreon was already lunging at him, lunging at his throat. There wasn't even time to scream.

Then, just as abruptly, Stark's weight vanished. There was a flash of purple, and Beck saw the Umbreon jerk as something hit him and knocked him away. Sabriel herself was attacked by a blur of black fur and flashing claws and she let out a cry of surprise, stumbling away.

"I wanted to get up early tomorrow too," Sarah's cool voice rang out from the darkness like a lone, pure chime. "But now I'll be all tired because you're making me miss sleep. Thanks a lot."

Stark rushed to defend Sabriel from whatever was assaulting her. Something soft and furry grabbed Beck and dragged him a few feet back. Still in a state of complete shock, Beck slowly looked up and saw the face of Sarah's Furret. He tried to move, but the Long Body Pokemon held him down with soft paws, an almost sympathetic look on his cute mousey face. Furret peered down at him with patient blue eyes, telling him to stay put.

Stark the Umbreon was locked in combat with a Weavile. Sabriel crouched down in an odd stance, with two other Pokeballs in her hand, having gotten over her surprise. Her silver eyes flashed wildly, panicked, all hints of swagger in her lyrical voice gone. Her words came out in a strangled snarl. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Sarah replied nonchalantly, stepping into the moonlight so that she was visible. The light streamed like a sleepy waterfall in her hair. Her lazy eyes were twin pools of lake water, the moon's reflection hanging in their unfathomable depths. "Well you've been traveling with me for the past three weeks. Shouldn't you know my name by now… 'Oriole'?" She laughed softly as she said the last word, like it was a private joke.

"How do you know—?"

"Oh, we've been keeping tabs on you." Another voice called out. It was a boy's voice and it sounded awfully familiar. The second person appeared beside Sarah, and Beck recognized him as the ice-eyed boy that had ambushed Sabriel in the alleyway at Lavaridge.

"_You_," Sabriel growled. Her eyes darted nervously between him and Sarah, like a cornered animal's.

"Me," answered the boy with a chillingly friendly smile. "Let's finish this, Weavile. Brick Break!"

Sabriel screamed, "Get back, Stark!"

A red laser flashed through the night and footsteps pounding on gravel reached Beck's ears, as she suddenly vanished from his view, into the darkness. There was the sound of another Pokeball activating and the roar of a Gyarados thrashing with a Water attack. A moment later, silence.

"She got away," the other boy said, sounding a little crestfallen. He tilted his head, running his hand through his curly locks, shining platinum in the moonlight.

"You weren't fast enough," retorted Sarah.

Crunching footsteps, the sound of more boots on gravel and hard ground. Sarah appeared to stand where Sabriel was a moment ago. She looked down on Beck who sat there, dazed. Her eyes were unsympathetic.

"Are you okay?" The question was more of a flat statement, something lobbed carelessly at him like a morsel of food thrown to a starving beggar by a scornful aristocrat.

Beck's lips struggled to wrap around words. "I'm…"

"Oh leave him alone. He's probably in shock. It's probably the first time anyone's ever tried to kill him in his sleep," the ice-eyed boy called casually. "How long have _you_ been deceiving them, Oriole?"

Sarah ignored him, fiddling with one of her Pokeball-shaped earrings.

Now Beck was hopelessly confused. "Oriole?"

"That's me," Sarah said shortly, gesturing to Furret, who was still curled up like a pillow against Beck's back.

"What?" He had found his voice again and it was rising with distress. "Sabriel—,"

"—was an imposter." Sarah cut him off calmly and Beck fell back in surprise as Furret suddenly left his side. "Essentially, she was pretending to be me. Which I find very amusing." Her voice distinctly lacked any trace of amusement at all.

"Those criminal organizations just get smarter and smarter," her companion snorted, recalling his Weavile.

"If you think they're so stupid, Agent Osprey," Sarah said pointedly to him. "Then you should have caught all of their leaders by now."

"Oh give me a break, _Agent_ Oriole…" The ice-eyed boy apparently named Osprey complained humorously. "Slave driver..."

"I…" Beck looked up with pleading eyes to Sarah, _begging_ for answers. She stared back without sympathy. The boy swallowed nervously and asked weakly, "Then Sarah…are you really a spy?"

"…pardon?"

"A spy?" Sarah and her companion exchanged amused glances, leaving even more Beck horribly confused. "Is _that_ what that horrid girl told you she was pretending to be? A 'spy'? How childish is that?"

"Well," Sarah said slowly, in answer to Beck's question, a very faint smile tugging at her lips. "Kind of. But not really. We're undercover agents of the International Police, posing as Trainers. The International Police keeps a few agents in every region, but apparently there's trouble here. So I was sent to investigate."

Beck now felt rather foolish, but he pursued timidly, "Then Sabriel…what is she?"

"A member of the organization attempting to resurrect Team Aqua," Osprey replied, his frosty blue eyes rolling in exasperation. "I suppose she assumed Oriole's identity to let rumors spread that the International Police were sending more agents. That's in order to help frighten their rival Team Magma into backing down. In truth, both of them are scared stiff of the agents of the International Police."

Beck took a moment to process this in his sleep-deprived mind. "So both of you are agents of… the International Police?"

"That's what I said, didn't I?" was Sarah's curt reply.

"And Sarah…you're really 'Oriole'?"

"You should go back to sleep," she said with a sigh, this time sitting down. Her Furret snuggled up to her. "And Osprey—go away. You should be in Mossdeep investigating the Space Center."

"That's the thanks I get?" Osprey laughed, as he turned away. "But fine. I'm off to slave away again." He paused, and then tossed over his shoulder, "By the way, Looker's in the region."

"What?" Sarah asked sharply.

"You heard me." Osprey stretched and stepped out of the moonlight. "Word's out that he arrived just a few hours ago—dunno why, since we have it under control. So far. You really should stay on top of the newsfeed, Oriole. Anyways, he'll probably want to say 'hi', so just telling you."

Sarah's face was blank and it was impossible to understand her response to the arrival of this "Looker" person who had apparently arrived.

Osprey sent something large and winged out of a Pokeball. A moment later, he had climbed atop of that winged Pokemon and was soaring away, his silhouette giving them a jaunty wave that neither of them returned.

Sarah murmured something to Furret who nodded. "Okay. Bedtime," the girl declared calmly, like everything that had happened was a normal occurrence.

Shakily, Beck lay back down, though he was now wide awake and his heart thrummed frantically. Sarah—"Oriole"—had lain back down, using her Furret as a pillow. He flashed wary glances at her, half-expecting her to set her Pokemon on his throat as soon as he closed his eyes.

"Go to sleep," she said abruptly, without opening her eyes. "We're going to go through Meteor Falls tomorrow and you have the Rustboro Gym to train for, don't you?"

"I…" In truth, Beck had not given much thought to his League challenge all day, ever since Sabriel had claimed to be a spy. Everything, it seemed, had gone downhill from that point.

"And don't worry," sighed Sarah again, rolling over so that her back was turned to him. "I'm not going to randomly attempt to kill you during the night. I'm one of the good guys, right?" The last line was so scathingly sarcastic that Beck expected her to spring up and attempt to kill him right there, as a follow-up.

Her final statement was exceedingly callous, but somehow reassuring. "I'm undercover, so it's less suspicious for me to be traveling with someone. So you're useful to me. I won't let you be killed off. Now, good night."

With that, she was silent.

Beck shuddered, wondering now if he was the traveling companion of the agent named Oriole, or her prisoner.

Yet somehow, he was comforted by something or tired enough, to manage to go back to sleep. Even the nightmares were buried away by his exhaustion, and his sleep was deep and tinged with only the occasional flash of gray.

* * *

><p>He woke to the sound of buzzing and something impatiently tapping him on the face. Beck groaned, muttered something about flying pancakes and slowly opened his eyes—only to see a giant insect on his head.<p>

Barely suppressing a startled shriek,—for even now he still felt rather high-strung—Beck shot upright and backed away from the Ninjask that hovered into the air. The Bug-type turned away from him, drifting over to a tree.

The boy glanced around. The campfire was a pile of smoldering gray ashes; it was still warm. He spotted Sarah's messenger bag piled there, but its owner was nowhere in sight. Automatically, Beck searched for Sabriel, too, accustomed to the sight of her bright magenta hair. It took him a moment to remember that she was a member of some criminal organization, whom had attempted to assassinate him the night before. He wondered if last night had all been a terrible surrealistic dream, but after looking around, Beck spotted gorges in the dirt, flurried pawprints that belonged to an Umbreon—traces of the battle that had indeed really occurred.

Shivering at the memory, Beck turned his attention back to the Ninjask.

"Are you Sarah's?" he asked cautiously, for the Bug-type seemed to be guarding the camp. The Ninjask replied with a short nod, curt and brusque just like its Trainer.

"Where is Sarah?"

Ninjask produced a thumming sound with its wings, but otherwise ignored the boy's question.

Wincing at the cold shoulder he was getting—if insects had shoulders—Beck reached for his Pokeballs, searching for more friendly company. Igneous was sent out first. He made a low sound, bumping Beck on the shoulder with his head in greeting. The boy smiled, concerns about spies and secret agents fading away as he patted his Pokemon on the head. Solo the Skarmory seemed rather annoyed at the presence of the Ninjask and its buzzing wings, and had to be placated by a lump of sugar that Beck fished from his pocket. Both Oddish and Baltoy were still fast asleep, which Beck supposed was understandable because the morning sun was still low and orange in the sky.

As Beck dug into his own backpack and searched for Berries to hand out to his Pokemon, Sarah materialized out of nowhere. Furret trotted next to her on all fours, and then stood up on two legs as they halted. He waved cheerily with his paws at Ninjask who seemed rather disgusted at his exuberance and turned away with scornfully flashing wings. Unbothered, Furret loped over to where Igneous and Beck's other Pokemon were gathered. The boy was rather surprised at the Furret's friendly demeanor, considering the personality of his Trainer.

"The way is clear," Sarah said calmly.

"The way to where?"

"Rustboro." The girl glanced around, her half-closed pale green eyes flashing piercingly, letting her normally indifferent and lazy frontage drop, to be replaced by razor-sharp watchfulness. "I've checked the area. No crazy people with Umbreons and Gyarados after us."

"How long did you know who Sabriel was?"

Sarah let a pause fall between them, as she lazily took her eyes off their surroundings and fixed her wintergreen gaze on him. A barely discernable smile was on her face. "Well, ever since I met her. Despite her swagger, I can tell you she has had absolutely no training in what you would call 'spying' and 'espionage'. If you hadn't noticed, she botched her attempt to kill you last night pretty badly. The only thing I would say she got right was grabbing two people to travel with her, to make herself blend in better. Osprey would not have noticed her at all, except that I informed him. Useless idiot," she added, as an afterthought, though there was no antagonism in her voice.

Beck shivered at the cold, casual way she talked about killing and spying and espionage. He slowly withdrew all of his team, except for Igneous. Putting a shaking hand on his partner's flank, he took a deep breath and said, "Look…I'm not sure I really—,"

"—Want to travel me with me?" Sarah finished for him, with another mirthless smirk on her face. "I apologize. But you have no choice in the matter. After all, you know about me now…while the International Police do not go about killing everyone who finds stuff out, I can't let you run free with the secret. You're stuck with me."

Beck wanted to retort sharply, but the flat look in her eyes stopped him. Her green orbs were wintry and perfectly serious, two solid slabs of ruthless emerald glass. Whereas Sabriel's silver eyes had been frightening, Sarah's were simply blank and factual, with an edge of a cold, calculated huntress. Looking at them, like that, gave him chills.

Beck nodded meekly, and Sarah took her bladelike eyes off of him. She was once again gazing off in a distant direction, even as she picked up her bag. Igneous lowed, sniffing at Beck's hand for more Berries, seeming completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere.

Furret darted over to the remains of the campfire and scattered the ashes carefully, destroying all traces of it. With his tail, he also covered over the footprints where Sabriel's Umbreon and Osprey's Weavile had briefly fought. Beck scrambled to gather his own things and rose as Sarah began walking towards the distant mouth of the entrance to Meteor Falls. He was looking at the ground and almost smashed into Sarah when she abruptly stopped.

"What is it?" he asked, torn between irritation and timidity. She ignored him, staring off to the left in a curiously intent manner. Beck looked to the same direction and saw only trees and some bushes that a small breeze blew over. Furret perked up, sniffed curiously at the air, and then glanced back over to his Trainer. He also looked evidently puzzled.

"Nothing," she said, after a moment. Her eyes narrowed at the trees. "For a moment…nevermind. Let's go."

She led a brisk pace and Beck had to scramble to catch up.

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>I actually don't know what happened here, except that I made it up on the spot. So there. Hope that was random enough to entertain you. xD I am certainly entertaining myself while writing this.<p>

Ah...too many spy movies...

Thanks for reading, as always~ :D


	5. Turn Aside

Random new chapter of randomness~

Oh and Looker appears. I like Looker's music a lot and he's a cool dude that randomly gives you items that are useful. So ya. xD

Pokemon I don't own. And stuff.

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>The sound of distant water dripping from the ceiling really bothered him. Other than that and the shuffling of feet though, the cave was absolutely soundless. It was a sort of loud, roaring quiet, the sort so silent that it was deafening.<p>

Sarah finally broke the silence, by stopped at the center of a small chamber in the cave and declaring, "We're here."

Furret stood up on his hind legs and looked around enthusiastically. Beck and Igneous followed suit with less zest, scanning the area. There was nothing there except for boulders and stalagmites.

"Where would 'here' be?" Beck asked finally, wondering why they had stopped in the middle of Meteor Falls.

Sarah responded by fishing something out of her back pocket and holding it up. Beck saw that it was a pin shaped like a bird, colored black and orange—the same exact one that Sabriel had worn on her collar at Lavaridge Town. She waved it briefly like it was a signal of some sort, seeming to be glaring expectantly at the boulders.

The girl sighed, after a few moments of silence had passed with Igneous and Beck staring at her curiously. "If you're going to come out, then hurry up. We've got places to go, Looker. Sir," she added, with a sigh.

Almost immediately, one of the nearby boulders shifted and out of it leapt a man. He was tall and lanky, dark-haired and wore what looked like a detective's trenchcoat over a darker brown suit with a tie. His eyebrows were raised in an arc that made him look like he was in a perpetual state of hard thinking.

"Well then, greetings my young friend," the man tried to say with dignity, with something like a half-suppressed grin on his face. "It is good to see you here. Working hard, like always, are you not?"

"Something like that," Sarah replied wryly. Her eyes fell on the place where the man had been hiding. A ghost of a smile was on her face. "Were you waiting for me here, sir? And again with boulders..."

"Boulders," declared Looker proudly, as Furret went to greet him happily. "Are wonderful tools of disguise, employed by the diligent investigator. They are everywhere, yes, and therefore are most reliable indeed." He suddenly seemed to notice Beck and Igneous. "Ah, ah. This boy you have with you. Is he a new agent that I was not informed of? For I have never seen him before."

Sarah didn't even glance at him. "No, just someone I met and am traveling with."

Looker paused and his expression changed, as he looked between the bird-shaped that pin Sarah held and Beck. "You…this boy, does he…?"

"Yes, he knows about my job. I told him."

The man frowned. "Oriole," he scolded, his mouth a stern line. "Telling strangers on the road your secret, it is something you should not do. We, the members of the International Police, must be on guard and we have many secrets to keep. Indeed, it must not be spilled out to the world. Reckless, you certainly should not be."

Sarah shrugged, the expression on her face akin to a bored student being lectured by a droning teacher. "Well he already knows. You might as well introduce yourselves." She shot Beck a lazy look and the boy cleared his throat.

"My name is Beck," he managed politely. "I'm a Trainer and this is my partner, Igneous."

"What they call me...ah, I shall tell you my codename. It is 'Looker'," said Looker, giving him a serious nod. "I am a globe-trotting elite of the International Police. That I am. So is Oriole, as you probably see—or as she told you so recklessly. Your cover, is this not the first time it has been blown?"

"My cover has never been blown," Sarah drawled. "Telling someone doesn't count. Now, do you actually have something important to tell me, _sir_?"

The man didn't look bothered at her sarcasm. "Ah, yes, now that you speak of it, I do. Indeed it is of very great importance." He paused and glanced at Beck. "This boy, you know, will be in greater danger the more secrets he hears. Responsibility for his safety, it is something you must take."

Sarah seemed to scoff and Beck felt an unwelcome surge of hurt at her latest display of blatant indifference. "Says the one who told a random kid in Sinnoh your identity and all the information you had on Team Galactic," she retorted sulkily.

Looker merely smiled. "Ah, ah! But that one _knew_ my identity, and she saw that I was no normal person, yes. As you can see, she is now the Champion of Sinnoh and therefore is competent enough to know of the International Police." He hesitated once more and said with severity, "Very well, then. This important information, I will now tell you." He glanced around then lowered his voice. "Within the International Police, yes, there is a traitor. This is what I heard, most certainly!"

"A traitor?" Sarah didn't sound particularly interested. Beck looked at her in confusion.

Looker took her lack of strong reaction for shock and continued gravely, "Yes, definitely, it is no mistake. I have not misheard. There are villains prowling this region, most certainly, and they have much information they should not have. A traitor, yes, that is the only logical conclusion."

A device in his pocket began beeping. Looker glanced in its direction, but made no move to take it out. "It seems I must go. There is little time and I will go to complete my own investigations. Do be careful, for I do not like the sound of some traitor among the ranks."

"You're not staying in the region?" Sarah asked.

He shook his head intensely. "No, it is not I whom you are reporting to this time. Kingfisher is the one you must find, yes. He is in charge for your mission."

"Oh. Him," she said flatly, pale eyes flashing with something that Beck identified as strong distaste.

"Learning to get along, it is a good thing," Looker counseled. "That last mission…" He paused and shook his head. "Nevermind. I shall attempt to finish my investigations, quickly, yes, so that I may return to aid you." He paused again and this time, said in a slightly cheerier tone, "Anyways, that Poketch I gave you some time ago, from Sinnoh I remember. It is working out?"

Sarah blinked and glanced down at her wrist which was bare, then gestured to her messanger bag. "Oh that. I don't wear it here. It's too conspicuous. I was given a PokeNav to blend in with the Hoenn Trainers."

Looker grinned. "Ah, ah. Yes. As was I, and it is very useful indeed. A very good design, it has, all the buttons in convenient placing."

Sarah rolled her eyes, seeming exasperated at the man's obvious fascination with gadgets.

Looker nodded, as whatever was in his pocket rang again, high-pitched and urgent. "Yes, yes. Carry on, Oriole. And farewell."

With that, the senior agent swiftly plucked the beeping gadget from his pocket in a blur, spun on his heels and exited in a peculiar, bouncing manner that was somewhere between walking and jogging.

"Is he really an undercover...detective?" Beck asked weakly, unsure what to think of the rather eccentric man.

"He is my superior and the one who trained me," Sarah said mildly. "He's the supervisor of the exclusively undercover agents."

Beck stared after the spot where Looker had vanished. "If you have PokeNavs and all that, why don't you just call each other?"

Sarah snorted. "That would save me a lot of hassle, but no. Those things can be tracked, and there isn't an encrypted network around here. I could get my stuff secured like Looker's, but I don't think I need to for this mission. It'd be better to meet the other agents in person. Kingfisher never answers his calls anyways." Her eyes hardened and abruptly, she stuck the orange pin back into her pocket. "We should go."

Beck nodded slowly, his eyes at where the pin had vanished. "What's that?"

Sarah glanced down. "The pin? That's my symbol of identification. Every undercover agent has a unique one. Sabriel was carrying a copy of mine—the real pins are made of the same stuff as Gym Badges."

She sighed and straightened.

"I suppose what Looker said about a traitor was true, because only other agents know what the pins look like enough to make a copy of them." A wry smile appeared on her lips, and she tapped her pocket. "I also have an actual police badge for official occasions, but they're not as subtle as the pins."

As Beck absorbed this latest information, Sarah shouldered her taupe messenger bag, absently tugging the hood on her plain black jacket back. She brushed some dirt off of her denim shorts, and gestured to Furret. Sarah looked so much like an ordinary girl with a mundane Pokemon, except for the subtle poise she radiated, the way she stood lightly on her feet like she was ready to spring away at any moment, the lazy but dangerous watchfulness in her eyes.

Beck was still having trouble believing that all that had happened was true.

"What?" Sarah asked abruptly. The boy quickly looked away, embarrassed at having been caught staring.

"Nothing," he said, calling Igneous as he prepared to resume walking.

* * *

><p>Sarah was quiet as they reached Rustboro City, glancing off to the side and seeming deep in thought. Beck didn't dare disturb her and she didn't even seem to notice him until they were standing before the Rustboro Gym, just out of range for the automatic doors to open. Then, she finally looked up and stared at the building for a moment.<p>

"You're challenging the Gym already? Without doing any more training?"

Beck gave her an odd look. "You're the one who pushed me to challenge Flannery before I thought I was ready."

"You were ready," Sarah said calmly, a placid sort of absolute certainty in her voice. "But right now you're not."

"Why not?" Beck asked, a little sharply. The girl shrugged, her head turning to look back up to the sky. Her voice was cool and apathetic.

"It's up to you."

She didn't say anything more, and so Beck turned away from her and walked into the Gym. He felt rather embittered by her words and her indifference, feeling determined to take the Stone Badge just to show her. A Gym battle, too, would take his mind off of the utter nonsense that was happening to him lately.

The layout of the place was simple and there were only two inexperienced Gym Trainers that Beck wiped the floor with. They served as a fair warm-up and by the time he reached the older girl standing on the platform, the boy felt pretty confident.

Roxanne nodded to him. "Welcome. Let's cut the small talk. Four, isn't it?"

Beck nodded. They faced each other, with Beck sending out Oddish to take the Typing advantage immediately. Roxanne had a Golem on her side. Beck felt a little apprehensive, facing a mean-looking fully-evolved Pokemon right off the bat, but he was confident that Oddish would run circles around their slow, bulky opponent.

"Absorb!" he called.

Roxanne frowned, twirling a lock of her brown hair. "Protect!"

The roots of the Absorb attack bounced harmlessly off of a faintly glowing shield that Golem cast around itself.

Beck crossed his arms. "Again!"

Oddish launched another Absorb attack, the roots jabbing aggressively at the edges of the shield until the Protect failed. Golem let out a heavy groan as it was hit by the Grass move and was drained of its energy.

"One more time," Beck ordered. Roxanne bit her lip, a sullen expression on her face as she watched her Golem go down. Beck grinned, swelling with buoyancy at being able to easily two-shot his opponent.

Roxanne frowned again and sent out an Onix. The rock snake uncoiled threateningly, rumbling in an intimidating manner. But it, too, had a quadruple weakness to Grass and size didn't change that.

"Absorb!" Beck commanded, confident of another easy win. Roxanne narrowed her eyes.

"Explosion," she said.

Beck had half a second to comprehend that and cover his ears as Onix glowed white and then erupted into a blast of arcing energy, shaking the Gym to its foundation.

The very air seemed to scream in pain, the tortured sound stretching for two seconds, fading into a thin wail and then dull silence descending just as abruptly. Beck slowly looked up and saw Oddish lying limply on the ground, at the edge of a smoldering crater. On the other side of the battlefield, at the very center of the crater, the Onix lay also unconscious from the backlash of its sacrificial attack.

A bit shaken by her unexpected reckless strategy, but still feeling confident, Beck withdrew Oddish and sent Baltoy out. Roxanne stared coolly at the top-like Pokemon before calling, "Go Kabuto!"

The Pokeball burst open and revealed a squat, dome-shaped brown thing with dully glowing crimson eyes peering out from underneath.

Beck called, "Mud Slap!"

Baltoy twirled forward, ready to douse its opponent with dirt. A smirk played at the corner of Roxanne's lips.

"Use Surf," she commanded. The Kabuto shifted and did a small, strange hop. Out of absolutely nowhere, water swelled from underneath it, rising higher and higher, growing immediately into a gigantic cresting wave. The wave easily washed away the Mud Slap attack and surged towards Baltoy like the mouth of a giant famished creature.

"Go up!" Beck cried, hoping his Pokemon would make it. Baltoy floated up higher, attempting to get above the wave before it hit. It was too late though. The water hungrily snatched the small top Pokemon into its depths, and then crashed down onto the floor with a mighty roar. The impact sent the water up and raining back down in narrow streaks—completely soaking Beck instantly.

Baltoy was also soaked. It lay sputtering and drenched, like a limp wet rag on the ground. It produced a coughing sound and Beck couldn't bear to force it to fight on. He withdrew Baltoy slowly, feeling the beginnings of panic from losing both of his main counters against Roxanne's team. The boy stared at the other two Pokeballs at his belt, at a loss which one he should use next.

Igneous, obviously, would not be able to take a Surf attack. But Beck had not yet trained with Solo at all. He didn't even know what moves the metal bird carried other than Fury Attack—and that was useless against a Rock-type Gym. Skarmory didn't seem to have the best Special Defenses either, and Beck didn't think Solo could stand up to such a powerful Surf that much better than the Numel.

Roxanne was waiting and so the boy had to make his decision. "Go, Igneous!"

His opponent stared at the Fire-Ground-type and gave him a look of disbelief. "Surf."

"Magnitude!" Beck shouted, closing his eyes and hoping, hard, that it would be strong enough. Igneous squared his shoulders fearlessly at the sight of the incoming wave and stomped the ground with determination.

There were shouts and complaints from the Gym trainers as the building was once again thrown into violent shaking. The shockwaves tossed loose debris into the air, and completely broke the Surf attack, shaking it aside. Like water in a bowl being hurled against the wall, the wave was tossed to the side by the quake. Kabuto, riding on top of the water, lost its balance, and tumbled down towards the ground.

"Great job, Igneous!" Beck said, his heart lifting. "Quickly—finish it off with another Magnitude!"

Igneous obeyed and the ground quivered angrily, sending the foe rolling. The boy was fairly celebrating his victory, when Kabuto shakily rose—it was battered by the Magnitude, but the power of the inconsistent move wasn't enough to knock it out.

"Surf!" Roxanne shouted. Beck shouted something, too, but his voice was lost in the roar of the new wave that crashed down onto Igneous. The Numel didn't have any time to dodge and was instantly KO'd by the wall of water that swallowed him.

Beck didn't have a choice now. He reluctantly sent out Solo.

The Skarmory emerged with a battle cry. His golden eyes locked onto the Kabuto and without awaiting Beck's orders, the bird launched itself at his foe, picked it up on his claws and began angrily pecking the Rock-type in midair.

"Ice Beam!" Roxanne shouted. Kabuto struggled in Solo's talons and wildly launched a blast of ice that went wide, freezing a nearby section of the wall. Solo screeched, and then dropped the Kabuto altogether. The already weakened Rock-type hit the ground with a loud thump and was still.

"Um…good job, Solo," Beck said hesitantly, unsure what to think of the Skarmory's aggression.

Roxanne stared at the Pokeball in her hand intently, before sending out her final Pokemon. A giant oddly-shaped cobalt rock with legs appeared. The rock emitted a noise that sounded like a sigh and turned around, revealing a giant triangular red section that looked like a nose, affixed to its face. Small beady eyes peered blankly at Beck.

"Solo! Use…" Beck trailed off, as he remembered he didn't really know what Solo could use. The Skarmory launched forward in response and attacked with his claws.

"This Pokemon you have…" Roxanne said coolly. "Has had no training whatsoever. Nosepass, Double Team!"

Suddenly, there were several large rock Pokemon with oversized noses. Skarmory halted and glanced around in confusion.

"Now—Rock Slide!"

"Dodge it!" Beck shouted. But Solo didn't know which Nosepass to watch out for. The Rock Slide hit him from behind, knocking him down with a screech. Solo managed to recover before he hit the ground, though, and turned to attack the real Nosepass.

"Protect! Then use Rock Slide again!"

The shimmering shield materialized and Skarmory ran right into it with his beak, seeming to stun himself in the process. He had no opportunity to evade the next storm of falling rocks and was knocked to the floor this time. The rocks continued to rain down and quickly buried the bird entirely.

"Solo!" Beck called, his eyes widening in horror. The pile of rubble shifted, and the Skarmory emerged slowly. He stumbled into the opening and spread his wings awkwardly, trying to fly back up, but only ended up tripping over himself. Perhaps he had been hit on the head, because Solo appeared to be haphazardly off-balance.

Roxanne closed her eyes and turned away. "That's enough. You've fought hard, but you need some more training. Your Skarmory has potential, but it's obviously newly caught and inexperienced with fighting with a Trainer." She withdrew her Nosepass and started walking towards a door. "Come back when you're ready."

* * *

><p>Sarah's face was blank as Beck walked silently out of the Gym, still dripping water from the Surf attack. He passed her without saying a word and went towards the Pokemon Center.<p>

"How bad was it?" she asked flatly. Beck glanced away from her.

"One to zero."

"That's not as bad as I thought." Her tone wasn't mocking, but it wasn't encouraging either. She waited until Nurse Joy handed his Pokeballs back to him and then walked out of the Center.

"Where are you going?"

"Out of the city," Sarah replied without looking back. She paused briefly to say, "You can come if you want."

Without awaiting an answer, she resumed walking. Beck stared dumbly at her back and her straight hazel hair for a moment. Then he followed, jogging to catch up.

* * *

><p>Sarah stopped again, this time just short of Rustboro City, in the middle of a large meadow ridden with flowers. The sun was a blinding golden burst in the sky, a piercing layer of heat beating down on them. Even the wind brought little relief; it blew hot harshly sunlit air, and wayward Bug-type Pokemon.<p>

Sarah put her messenger bag down at the foot of a tree and turned to face him.

"What?" Beck asked, confused.

"We're training."

The boy frowned, feeling himself being sapped by the heat already. "Now? But it's lunchtime…"

The girl glanced upwards. "It's noon. We should train while the sun is high." Beck had no idea how that had any relevance at all.

She looked back down and stared at him directly in his eyes. Furret dropped on all fours, and crouched downwards. "Here we come. Return!"

Beck barely had time to shout a warning before Furret shot towards Igneous like a brown bullet.

"Use Ember," the boy called. Igneous obeyed, shooting a burning flare right at Furret's face. It looked like a perfectly-aimed hit that would land solidly, but the Long Body Pokemon ripped right through the flames, using his claws to easily slice it cleanly apart like he would a crimson curtain. The sparks danced across the claws and they continued on their path, unhindered, to swat Igneous on the side of his head, knocking him a few paces back.

"Ember isn't going to cut it anymore," Sarah said calmly. "Especially against a Rock-type Gym like Roxanne."

"I'm didn't even use Fire-type moves against her," Beck protested. "I have Magnitude." Trying to prove it, he had Igneous use the Ground-type move.

The ground shook, causing Beck to stumble. Furret, however, leapt up, seeming to dance on the very air. His paws batted Igneous again, a light chastening blow.

"That horribly unreliable move," Sarah deadpanned. "Is worthless."

"Growl," Beck growled.

Igneous made the deep rumbling sound in his chest, but that didn't stop Furret from whacking him again.

"Too slow." Her voice was cold, dripping frost and light contempt.

Beck felt some slow sluggish anger stir within him like a hibernating beast that was awakening. "Tackle!"

Before Igneous could execute that, Furret hit him again, this time knocking him rolling. The Numel scrambled to his feet, the beginnings of frustration in his eyes.

"You're not focusing."

"Ember!"

Once again, Furret cut right through the attack, his claws scattering the small flames into harmless sparks. When Furret attacked again, Igneous was thrown several feet across the battlefield.

"Get up! Use Tackle!" Beck all but snarled. Igneous rose and looked back at him, his eyes still half-closed. The boy would have felt bad for yelling at him, but it was like something within him had snapped after being stretched taut for a while. "Hurry!"

Igneous hurled himself at his opponent. Sarah seemed to sigh as Furret weaved aside and slammed the Numel away.

Beck bit down burning frustration, wiping sweat from the side of his face. Physical attacks weren't working, because Igneous simply couldn't match up to Furret's sheer speed. Beck shouted for another Ember attack, but that was once again extinguished.

"You're being redundant," Sarah said coldly. Beck frowned, uncertain what she meant by that, but sure that it was probably belittling.

Igneous spat another volley of small flames, his eyes narrowed in concentration, trying to hit Furret. The Long Body Pokemon leapt back, tail sweeping tauntingly. The Numel paused for a moment and looked downwards. He seemed to realize something very important and quickly launched another Ember attack. Furret slashed this one apart as well, but Igneous's movements were faster now. He shot stream after stream of Ember, each weak and small flicker of flame lapping a little bigger, until they combined into short, harsh spurts.

Igneous took a deep breath and unleashed a large burst of fire that left a strident hiss in the air. Furret was forced to dodge this attack, leaping aside. There was an expression of shock on his face, as he watched the flames cackle on the ground where they had landed.

"He learned Flame Burst," said Sarah, sounding quite unsurprised. "Good job."

All of his frustration died down into surprise. "Flame Burst…" Beck repeated. Igneous looked at him expectantly.

"He wants lunch," Sarah said shortly, walking past him. "Numels can't stand hunger. I suppose that along with the strong sunlight was what pushed him to learn the new move."

"Oh…"

Igneous plodded over and bumped his hand with his head.

"Right." Beck quickly gave the Pokemon some Berries to munch on while he searched for the Pokemon food in his backpack. Sarah was sitting down with Furret under the tree where her own bag was and Beck scrambled to join her, escaping from the direct heat of the sun.

"So what was the point of that?" he ventured.

"The point of what?" Sarah dug around her in bag and fished out some Soda Pops.

"Of learning Flame Burst. It's a better Fire move than Ember, yeah, but you said it yourself. It's a Rock-type Gym. Why...?"

Sarah smiled to herself as she opened the can of Soda Pop, snapping the cap off with a hiss. "I think you'll find it useful," she said cryptically.

* * *

><p>They spent the next few days training like his life depended on it. For some reason, Sarah insisted that Igneous master the ins and outs of Flame Burst, even though Beck wasn't planning to use it against Roxanne. She had the Numel fight Furret endlessly, until Igneous could aim the Fire move expertly. Then, she used her Ninjask against Igneous. Beck had thought Furret was insanely fast, but when Ninjask moved, he seemed to vanish off the very face of the planet briefly.<p>

The Bug-type seemed faster than sound itself, and no matter how hard they tried, Igneous could only hit the Ninjask's afterimage. Afterwards, however, the Numel had not only honed his Flame Burst to the point of nearly perfect precision, but had also learned Take Down. Sarah was satisfied enough to allow Beck to train his other Pokemon.

At first the boy had been disgruntled at being so briskly ordered around, but he grudgingly accepted that Sarah seemed to always know what she was doing. Perhaps it came with being a trained secret agent, or whatever she was.

It all seemed to get better from there, despite Sarah's frightening training regime. Baltoy's Speed and reaction time saw definitive progress from being forced to dodge repeated X-Scissors from Ninjask, and Oddish also improved greatly, learning a new move as well.

The only member of Beck's team that seemed to dawdle far behind the others was Solo. The only thing that Beck learned from attempting to train the metal bird was his moveset—Fury Attack, Swift, Agility, and Sand-Attack. Sarah informed him that it would be a long time before the Skarmory learned Steel Wing and would be able to do respectable damage to Rock-types at all.

And it wasn't just his moveset that was discouraging; Solo also proved to be extremely stubborn and rebellious, attacking and dodging out of time with Beck's orders. There was no connection between them in battle. Sarah told the boy that the only thing that would work was harsh discipline.

"Something you yourself lack, so I doubt you can teach it to others," she said bluntly. Sarah seemed to have plenty of "harsh discipline", but she didn't offer to train Solo herself and Beck didn't want her to anyways. The past incident with Sabriel's Rare Candies made him slightly wary of putting his Pokemon in or even near other people's hands—and Sarah wasn't someone he entirely trusted either, even though the Suspicion Voice that yammered in the back of his head whenever he had talked to Sabriel was, for some reason, quiet in Sarah's presence.

He would personally train Solo. But nothing he tried worked. The Skarmory remained completely out of sync with his Trainer, and in the end, Beck decided it was best not to try to not use Solo at all in the Rustboro Gym.

Then, on the morning before Beck's second attempt at beating Roxanne, Sarah declared that she had to leave briefly.

"I'll be gone a few hours," she said, packing her messenger bag with fresh supplies she had gotten from the Mart. "I need to…investigate something."

Beck didn't bother to question her and her job. The Suspicion Voice was silent.

He wondered if he could take the opportunity of her absence to ditch her and escape all the madness associated with her. Hoenn was a big place; surely no matter how good she was, Sarah couldn't track him across an entire region…

At this, the Suspicion Voice did offer an opinion. _She'll find you. She'll use whatever means necessary._

Beck had to agree. Sarah wouldn't have left him if she thought she couldn't catch him if he tried to run away. Her Furret could probably pick up his scent or something of that sort. Besides, traveling with her thus far hadn't been as awful as he had feared. No one strange had attacked them, there were no killer battles in alleyways. Sarah seemed to be an extremely experienced Trainer despite only having two years over him—she was twelve, she said—and Beck had to admit his team had shot up in strength with her help.

He reluctantly dropped entertaining elaborate ideas of escape and began walking towards the Gym. Beck took two deep breaths, turning his mind to a general strategy to take on Roxanne.

"Hey kid!"

Beck turned to see a boy about his age running towards him. He raised an eyebrow.

"You going to challenge Roxanne?" the boy asked, flipping the rim of an orange baseball cap he wore.

"Yeah."

The Youngster beamed. "Great! Hey, I think I can help you out." He took out a Pokeball. "I've got a pretty good Water-type here. Why don't you take him? This guy just won me the match against Roxanne." He proudly whipped out a Stone Badge from his pocket with his other hand.

"Oh I couldn't just take your Pokemon," Beck protested.

The Youngster shrugged. "Don't feel bad, I'll just lend him to you for your Gym match. Well...I guess you can trade me one of your Pokemon, and then trade back after you beat the Gym. You'll be helping me out too—my brother told me to help fill his PokeDex while he was away."

Beck thought that was a sensible idea. He brought out his team and waited as the Youngster pondered over which Pokemon he wanted to trade for.

"Aha," the boy declared with a grin, pointing to Solo. "I haven't gotten the data for that one yet."

Beck nodded, although he felt a little loathe parting with one of his Pokemon, even temporarily. He hestitated.

_What if this makes Solo dislike you even more? What if he doesn't want to come back?_

Beck pressed down his uncorroborated concerns, exasperated at how paranoid he was sometimes. The trade was made quickly, and then Beck was waving goodbye to the Youngster.

"Thanks for helping me with the PokeDex! Catch ya later," the other boy called cheerily. "I'll meet you by the Devon Corps Building at noon, after you're done with your match, for the trade-back."

As Beck resumed his walk towards the Gym, he paused to check what sort of Water Pokemon he had received. It was a Poliwhirl named "Rush", and it knew Bubblebeam, Hypnosis, Body Slam, and Rain Dance. Beck was rather impressed with the well thought-out moveset and felt a rush of gratefulness to the generous Youngster. The Water-type would be a great help against Roxanne.

Whistling a cheery tune, he tucked the Poliwhirl's Pokeball into the last slot at his belt and entered the Rustboro Gym.

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>So yes. Beck gets his rematch with Roxanne next chapter.<p>

Looker talks really funny, at least in the games, so I tried to mimic that.

CONSPIRACY. More randomness to come! :D

Thanks for reading~ ^.^


	6. Streak Apart

The randomness continues~

Today, we have more battles. Because battles are cool and I practically wrote this entire thing just to go crazy with writing battles. And conspiracy. Yep. :D

I don't own Pokemon. Did I forget the disclaimer last time? Huh. Better fix that I suppose. I never remember these things. xD

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>The Gym Trainers recognized him as he walked in. They stepped aside, bright eyes watching him intently, as he slowly made his way up the aisle to where Roxanne was waiting. She was balanced lithely on her platform, glittering ruby eyes focused and eager.<p>

"You're back," the Rock-type Trainer said, brushing a curly lock of taupe hair back. She smiled confidently, scanning him over as though searching him thoroughly for flaws, cracks. "Then let's see what you've got."

And it began.

Perhaps she suspected he would lead with Oddish, because Roxanne sent out Onix first. Beck decided instead to go out with Baltoy. He watched Roxanne's face carefully for any signs of a reckless light that would announce her intention to use Explosion.

She was observing his Pokemon with a small concentration-filled frown, and Beck decided, from her patient expression, that she had decided to fight Baltoy rather than sacrifice her Pokemon immediately. For now, at least, he didn't have to fear Onix Exploding right off the bat.

"Mud Slap," he ordered. Roxanne looked surprised to see the top-like Pokemon respond with greater speed than previously. Baltoy shot towards the Onix and hurled a concentrated stream of mud that washed against its side. Onix growled and irately shook the thick dirt off, swatting at Baltoy with its tail and forcing it to retreat.

"Iron Tail," Roxanne called. With surprising speed of its own, Onix lashed out suddenly, its flashing tail a harsh white blur, striking the top-like Pokemon with force that made Beck wince. Like a small toy hurled furiously by a child throwing a tantrum, Baltoy was sent crashing into the wall.

"That's it," Roxanne said, leaning forward. "Hit it again, while its Defense has dropped!"

Baltoy got no opportunity to recover enough to dodge; it was sent flying with the second Iron Tail.

"Mud Slap!" Beck cried desperately. Baltoy managed to twist aside as a third Iron Tail was thrown its way and threw more mud at Onix, hitting it right in the face. The rock snake snarled and as it was attempting to dislodge the dirt over its eyes, Baltoy struck it again.

"Iron Tail!"

Onix roared and lashed out blindly, the mud still obstructing its vision. Baltoy hastily hovered back to barely avoid the wildly swinging tail.

Roxanne's eyes were almost pinkish in fiery light. "To the left. _Concentrate!"_

Onix seemed to pause, and then struck again with no warning. Baltoy gave a cry of surprise as it was thumped solidly right in the chest, the sound hollow and painful, and then sent tumbling onto the floor once again. The small Pokemon skidded a good twenty feet before coming to rest, with a groan, at Beck's feet.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked in concern. The top-like Pokemon attempted to rise and Beck shook his head, kneeling down and gently picking Baltoy up. He felt a little anxious, having his first Pokemon taken out so quickly, but he tried to sound reassuring. "Take a break. You've done a good job, weakening that Onix."

He put Baltoy back into its capsule to rest for the match, and then sent out Rush, the Poliwhirl he had borrowed. Roxanne looked surprised and as she stared at the Water-type, and Beck called out, "Use Bubblebeam!"

Rush blinked at the Onix for a moment, turned back to peer at Beck, and then shot a powerful stream of bubbles at his opponent.

"Dodge it!" Roxanne cried. Onix growled, slithered away with fair speed, only slightly grazed by the Bubblebeam.

"Quickly—Rock Slide!" she shouted.

Onix shook its head like there was an irritating fly buzzing in its ears and Beck realized it was still half-blinded from Baltoy's Mud Slaps. The Rock Slide attack missed the Poliwhirl completely. Beck smiled and called to Rush, to counterattack.

Roxanne's eyes narrowed. "Onix, use Ex—,"

"Bubblebeam!"

Rush was faster than the rock snake. The Water-type attack streamed out, hitting Onix in the face and then washing over its body. The Rock-type let out a pained roar and then heavily collapsed, causing the floor to shake and groan.

_One down._

Beck refrained from leaping up and celebrating so loudly this time, but he flashed Rush a proud smile.

There was a worried expression on Roxanne's face, as she realized the threat the Poliwhirl posed to her team. She sent out Nosepass.

"Protect!" she called immediately. Nosepass emerged from the Pokeball and cast a shield against the incoming Bubblebeam.

"Now, use Double Team!"

Rush looked around wildly, and warily stepped back from the illusionary Nosepass that appeared. He began shooting Bubblebeam randomly, but the attacks only hit copies that leered briefly before vanishing.

Beck saw that desperate light glinting in Roxanne's eyes and knew that she wasn't going to take any chances with regular attacks.

"_Explosion_!"

Beck winced, because once again there was nothing he could do. He himself wasn't sure which one of the many Nosepass was the real one and there was no chance Rush would be able to dodge the attack.

The entire Gym was rocked with the impact of the move, even harder than when Onix had used it in the previous match. Beck groaned as he clutched his ears, wondering how long it would be before he went deaf from it all.

Feeling his head ringing like, well, he had just listened to something explode very loudly, Beck fumbled for Rush's Pokeball and withdrew the defeated Poliwhirl without looking up.

"O-Oddish," he managed, as he hurled another Pokeball. The Grass-type emerged with an eager bounce and looked over to see who his opponent was. Glaring back in a hostile manner, was Roxanne's Golem. Oddish's crimson eyes narrowed in concentration at the sight of his nemesis.

"Alright Oddish," Beck said with a weak grin, one hand still pressed to the side of his head. "Let's show off your new move. Mega Drain!"

Golem, of course, had to make things difficult by using Magnitude. The roots that were the Mega Drain attack were bigger and stronger than Absorb, but they were still torn apart easily by the force of Golem's quake. Oddish wailed as he was thrown aside and then pelted by flying debris.

This time, Beck lost his balance, too, and tripped, falling on his face in quite an embarrassing manner. He scrambled to his feet and saw Oddish looking desperately to him for instruction.

Feeling rather incompetent from falling and losing focus, Beck called out, "Try Mega Drain again! They can't consistently keep up such powerful Magnitudes."

He was right. The next quake that Golem unleashed was barely enough to neglect the Mega Drain attack. Oddish recovered from the attack and surged forward with renewed fury, launching more roots.

But Golem wouldn't go down so quietly. It used Protect.

And then it blew up, seemingly just to spite them.

"Could you please _quit_ _it?_" Beck couldn't help but holler, as he staggered back from the force of Golem's Explosion. He felt horrible, because this would be the second time that Oddish was KO'd by something Exploding in his face. The boy didn't think it was the most pleasant way to be constantly knocked out by.

"Gl…"

Suddenly, there was a terrible stench in the air—like the putrid depths of the worst swamp, polluted with old garbage. Beck's breath hitched in surprise as he heard Roxanne gag, "_What_ is this?"

The boy held his hand over his mouth and his nose as he looked up and saw an unfamiliar round blue shape with a bright pinkish-red flower on top of it.

"Gloom?" The Pokemon slowly turned around cautiously and Beck stared at it for a moment.

"Oddish…?" he asked blankly. "I mean…not Oddish anymore. You…you're…evolved?"

Gloom looked down on himself and experimentally waved his newly grown arms. "Gloom…" he said thoughtfully.

"How?" Roxanne's voice rang sharply across the room. She stared in disbelief, looking between her unconscious Golem, the crater from the Explosion, and the still-standing Gloom.

Beck blinked at Gloom. "I…have no idea," he admitted. "How did you emerge from that unharmed?"

The Pokemon stumbled a little and gave him a pointed look. _I didn't. _

Beck then saw that the Grass-type's side was charred, and he winced in sympathy. "Ouch…but…how did you avoid most of it?"

"I get it," Roxanne said suddenly, staring at her fainted Pokemon. It was facing towards her, despite its opponent being in the other direction. "Your Oddish evolved just before the Explosion and then began giving off this…stink. This caused Golem to instinctively turn away from the horrible stench and direct his Explosion away, and that, combined with Gloom's increased Speed, allowed it to avoid the brunt of the attack."

"Huh," said Beck, blinking. He paused and cautiously removed his hand from his nose, gingerly breathing in. The awful smell that Gloom was giving off seemed to have faded.

He recalled learning somewhere that smells only lasted for twenty seconds or something, before people stopped registering them. Taking in a deep, seemingly untainted breath of air, Beck grinned broadly and said, "Well, good job, O—Gloom!"

The Grass-type nodded cheerily and then winced, peering down at his wound again. Beck bit his lip, as he watched Roxanne sent out her Kabuto.

"Ice Beam!" Roxanne ordered, a confident smile on her face.

"Dodge it!"

Gloom obeyed, but Beck could tell that his injuries were slowing him down. "Use Mega Drain!"

Roxanne's eyes glittered defiantly. "Ice Beam. Aim for the roots!"

Kabuto complied and quickly froze over the roots that emerged from the ground. Gloom tried to use Mega Drain again, but to no avail. Beck stepped back, worried. He had a disadvantage now, being unable to take advantage of Kabuto's quadruple weakness to Grass.

"Now, aim for Gloom!"

Both Beck and his Pokemon flinched.

"Get in close," the boy called, his eyes tracking the beam of frost that Kabuto was preparing to unleash. Gloom flashed him an odd look, but obeyed. He flitted around the Ice Beam and surged towards his opponent.

Beck shouted for a Mega Drain. Kabuto froze as it was commanded to use Ice Beam, glowing crimson eyes darting between the roots surging from the ground, and Gloom who was charging towards it. In its hesitation, one of the roots slapped Kabuto and began hungrily wrapping around it, inflicting some damage. Desperately, the Rock-type swung its Ice Beam in an arc, freezing the roots and then lashing it towards its opponent in the same instance.

Before the frosty attack hit him, Gloom's eyes widened in resentment and he seemed to positively flip out at the prospect of being defeated immediately upon evolution. With a thin, angry cry, he crossly released a large plume of golden dust. The powder spread out in a cloud that washed over Kabuto vengefully, even as Gloom fell to the Ice Beam.

The Kabuto hissed angrily, stumbling back. Its small legs scrabbled and twitched, its mobility reduced with great severity because of the Stun Spore. Beck shook his head in amazed disbelief. This was the second time that the Gloom had managed to inflict a Status condition on his opponent as he was knocked out. The Grass-type really had to be commended for his tenacity.

Thanking Gloom softly, Beck withdrew the Grass-type and held up the Pokeball of his final Pokemon.

"Okay. It's up to you, Igneous."

"Surf," Roxanne replied coldly.

Igneous emerged from his Pokeball and just like last time, was immediately faced with a wall of roaring water about to crash into him. He seemed to sigh and look at his Trainer ruefully.

Beck laughed sheepishly. "Yeah…Magnitude?"

The boy and the Numel got lucky again. The quake was enough to break the Surf attack, just like last time. The already weakened Kabuto was thrown harshly away. This time, Beck didn't give it an opportunity to counterattack.

"Quickly, use Take Down!"

Recklessly, Igneous charged and threw his entire weight onto the Rock-type. It wasn't enough to do too much damage, but it knocked the rapidly tiring Kabuto back. The Rock-type certainly couldn't unleash a Surf if it was being pummeled left and right, after all. Roxanne seemed to realize this, and shouted for Kabuto to put distance between it and its opponent.

The Rock-type obeyed, and when Igneous tried to pursue him with Take Down, Kabuto stopped him with a wall of Rock Slide. Igneous growled as he was pelted by the falling slabs of stone and had to back away to avoid being buried by them.

With his head, the Numel cleared aside the barrier of rocks and then glanced back at his Trainer. Beck was practically gnawing at his nails. Kabuto had managed to retreat a safe distance away where it could spew Surfs at its leisure. The boy was pretty sure his luck would run out with Magnitude—sooner or later, he would get a quake that wouldn't be strong enough to stop a Surf and that would be game over. But Igneous's only other long-range move was…

"Flame Burst," the boy decided to try. Igneous looked puzzled, but turned and obeyed. He shot a small, condensed fire ball across the battlefield, the orange flames cackling loudly.

"Surf!"

The Kabuto paused for a moment, seeming to be trying to catch its breath. Laboriously, it finally managed to summon up on another cresting wave that extinguished the fire with a harsh hiss of steam. The water surged towards Igneous like a predator that had finally cornered its prey.

Beck stared blankly at the great wall of water, at a loss and sure that he would lose now. He could feel some of the misty droplets hit his cheek, even from here, the wave stirring up a cold, biting breeze. And in the furious roar of the cold winter wave, he could hear Sarah scoffing at him. In fact he could practically make out her _exact_ words…

"_Flame Burst deals residue damage."_

What?

Beck blinked and realized he was recalling what Sarah had said to him during their training session. He had noticed that Igneous's attacks were also setting nearby objects like bushes and patches of grass on fire, even though he was aiming for Ninjask. Sarah had informed him that Flame Burst would not only damage what it was directly aimed at, but also what was around that target.

The boy paused for another fraction of a second. "Flame Burst!"

Igneous launched a fire ball that was easily swallowed into the depths of the surging water. Roxanne looked confused, and then gasped as she saw her Kabuto flinch violently, seemingly from nothing, and almost fall off the wave. Said wave was less than ten feet away from Igneous now.

The Numel shot another Flame Burst which hit the Rock-Water-type again. With the quadruple resistance, it still wasn't enough to KO…but the additional residue damage was. Kabuto groaned, falling back in exhaustion. The wave faltered with its owner and then collapsed like a tent with no poles to hold it up.

Kabuto fell to the ground, the water wailing as it fell with it. Igneous scrambled backwards in alarm, barely avoiding the crashing water that splashed with the force of the fallen wave.

"We did it," Beck whispered, half in shock at his luck. "Great work, Igneous!"

The Numel sighed happily, waddling up to him and bumping the boy's side with his head. Beck grinned, giving him a handful of well-earned Berries.

Roxanne shook her head slowly, as she withdrew Kabuto. She stepped towards him, crossing over the drenched and crater-ridden battlefield. "I see. I still have much to learn. You outplayed me in the end, using your Pokemon's strengths in such a way…I'll study hard so I can match up to people like you. But now—here you've earned this."

Beck nodded reverently as he accepted the Stone Badge. He patted Igneous proudly on the head. With this, he was one step closer to becoming a great Trainer, like his father was said to be.

_I hope you're watching, dad. _

* * *

><p>It had been quite a close and exhilarating match and, after visiting the Pokemon Center, Beck decided to give his team a pep talk to congratulate them on the win. He walked to the large courtyard just before the Devon Corps building, where he was due to return Rush the Poliwhirl to his owner. Beck felt a little sad, parting with the borrowed Water-type that proved to be an adaptive and friendly partner, but he was also eager to get Solo back.<p>

"Great job today, guys," Beck said, when he had assembled his team before him. "Thanks to everyone's hard work, we got the Stone Badge!"

Igneous lowed in acknowledgement. Gloom did a happy twirl, waving his small arms up and down. The Grass-type seemed to have developed a fascination with the novelty of arms and relished every opportunity to use them. Already, he had established a quirky routine of shaking hands with everyone and everything that also had arms.

Rush nodded gladly, and right on cue, Gloom took the opportunity to seize the Water-type's mitten-like hand and energetically shake it. The Poliwhirl blinked, seeming slightly taken aback, but he humored the Gloom and accepted the handshake.

The only one that seemed a little down was Baltoy. It hovered a little off to the side, staring at some distant houses. Beck took a step towards it and asked, "What's wrong?"

Baltoy shook itself and straightened a little, like it was saying, _What? No, nothing at all. _

Beck stared at the top Pokemon for a moment. "Are you still tired from the Gym match?"

At this, Baltoy shook itself even harder, in a vigorous _no. _

The boy paused, as realization dawned on him. "Are you upset that you lost against your opponent again?"

The top Pokemon froze, and Beck knew he had hit the bull's-eye. It was true though, and Beck hadn't even noticed it until now. Baltoy had not won a single match against anyone. It had been knocked out in one hit by Flannery's Camelrupt, had been dispatched by a single Surf from Roxanne's Kabuto, and then lost again to her Onix.

"It's okay," Beck immediately counseled, kneeling down and patting the top Pokemon on its peculiar-shaped head. "You're doing fine. You've gotten a lot stronger, and I bet you'll evolve soon too." He grinned, trying to change the topic to a cheery one. "I saw a Claydol once, when I was little. They're really cool—when you become one, you'll have multiple eyes and _detachable _arms."

Baltoy seemed to perk up at the interesting thought of having _detachable_ arms, while Gloom perked up at just the word "arms". Rush looked quite confused at the joke he was obviously missing and Igneous rolled his eyes at their silliness and looked away.

Beck laughed. He could have stood there for the rest of the day, watching his Pokemons' antics, but then he remembered he had to meet the Youngster, to return Rush. He glanced around and saw that it was five minutes to noon—the appointed time. Hastily, the boy had his team say goodbye to Rush and then withdrew everyone, hurrying to the entrance of the Devon Corps Building.

He scanned around for a moment, and seeing no one there, looked inside. There was no one in the lobby except for a seated woman reading a magazine, a secretary on the phone, and a bored-looking guard who blocked the stairs to the second floor.

Maybe he was still on his way. Not everyone was as obsessed with being prudent as Beck was, after all. The boy stepped back outside, found a comfortable portion of the wall to lean on, and waited.

Ten minutes passed, with no sign of Rush's owner. Beck frowned a little, and wondered if something had happened.

After another few minutes, Beck walked back across the courtyard and glanced around. From his angle, he could see much of the nearby streets. He didn't see the Youngster anywhere.

_He's not coming. _

Beck frowned again, impatiently pushing the Suspicion Voice into a neat, dark corner of his mind where it belonged, and continued waiting. After another period of time, Beck set out to begin to search. As he walked, Sarah materialized behind him.

"What are you doing?"

He flinched so violently that he almost stepped on her foot. Beck whirled around, backed away two paces, and gasped, _"Don't_ do that."

She regarded him amusedly, brushing her hazel hair back innocuously. "Do what?"

Beck shook his head. "Nevermind. You're back?"

"Yep. Did you win the Badge?"

He blinked and then nodded. "Y-yeah. I beat the Gym."

"That's good. We can go then."

"Oh…no not yet. There's someone I have to find." He explained to her about how he had borrowed Rush the Poliwhirl, in exchange for Solo, and how he had to go make the trade-back now. Something odd glinted in Sarah's sharp eyes. She paused. "You're sure he told you to meet by the Devon Corps building at this time? That he's in the city?"

"Yes I'm positive…" Beck said, puzzled.

Sarah shrugged. "Orange hat? Dressed like a Youngster? I'll go look for him, then. In the meantime, why don't you go to the PokeMart and resupply? Our next stop is a bit of a long trip."

Without awaiting his reply (like usual), the undercover agent turned gracefully on her heels and vanished into a nearby crowd. Beck sighed at her abruptness, but took out his backpack. Wedged within the secure lower front pocket were his Trainer Card, and a wad of cash. He counted the bills first, and then glanced at the sum displayed on his Card, adding up the total amount of money he had.

"We should restock on Super Potions," he said thoughtfully. "I suppose this is enough."

* * *

><p>Upon walking out of the store, Beck nearly smashed into Sarah again. He was about to grumble something about her habit of appearing out of nowhere, when she remarked, "The one you're looking for isn't here."<p>

"Huh?"

"I saw no one matching your description of the person who traded you the Poliwhirl," Sarah said simply. "I had all of the buildings and the entire city checked, and even scouted the surrounding outside Routes."

Beck was sure she was exaggerating. She couldn't have combed the entire city so quickly. "Maybe you—,"

She shook her head adamantly. "He's not here."

The boy refused to believe her and began his own search. Sarah accompanied him silently, and after a good twenty minutes, Beck gave up and accepted what she said as the truth. He had returned to the Devon Corps Building and asked around, but no one had seen a Youngster enter or pass by. Rush's owner had indeed vanished without a trace.

"What happened?" Beck murmured, a strange heavy feeling starting to throb within him.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sarah turned her eyes lazily onto the sky."You were tricked."

He stared at her blankly. "Tricked…?"

The girl shrugged. "He wanted Solo, despite him being your weakest party member. But still, Skarmory are rare and coveted Pokemon. He must have wanted yours enough to give up his own Pokemon and then make a break for it."

Beck could only gape at her. "But…"

Sarah looked him in the eye. "So the kid randomly comes up to you and offers to give you his Poliwhirl. Then, he suddenly changes it to a 'temporary' trade. Doesn't that seem suspicious to you?"

Beck hesitated. He _had_ vaguely thought something was a little odd about the Youngster's offer, but he had also thought any suspicions about a simple matter were ridiculous. Sarah read the look on his face. "So you _did_ think something was off. Why didn't you refuse the offer then?"

"I thought…I was being paranoid. I don't automatically assume people who talk to me lie," he said defensively, and with a little accusation.

She snorted, green eyes unsympathetic. "You seem to have good instincts about people lying, but you don't trust them, do you?" She walked past him. "If you don't trust yourself, then who is there to trust?"

The boy stared after her, uncomprehendingly. "Then…Solo. Where's Solo?"

Sarah halted and turned back, raising an eyebrow. "Considering the circumstances, I would think that the Youngster has him halfway across Hoenn by now. I doubt you'll see him again. And even if you do, there's nothing you can do to get Solo back. You traded him away, of your own free will, but you can't force his new owner to give him back."

His new owner. The words made a strange sort of fury simmer within Beck. "Can't….you do anything?"

She blinked. "Me?"

"You're a member of the International Police," Beck said desperately, in a low, pained voice. "Can't you—,"

A mirthless smile tugged at her lips. "But no crime was committed. And even if I was ludicrously abusive with my power, I can't arrest someone for making a trade just because the other party is dissatisfied."

So saying, she turned away again, never looking back.

"Our next destination is Dewford Town," she said coolly over her shoulder. "We are going to meet someone along the way who will travel with us there. That person is my contact, and he is also an undercover agent. In public, call him 'Alec'."

Having delivered her short instructions, Sarah began walking.

Beck glared at her back, furious at her complete indifference. Some especially childish part of him cried out for petty revenge, urged him to grab the nearest pedestrian and tell them Sarah's identity and try to ruin her day.

_Bad idea, _said the Suspicion Voice snidely. If it wasn't a manifestation of his subconscious, Beck might have been tempted to throw something at it.

He seethed silently at the ground, knowing he was indeed being immature about something that was his own fault. How naïve Sarah must have thought of him—she was right about his instincts and it wasn't the first time, either. Alarm bells had ringed in his head, practically every time Beck had spoken to Sabriel, but he always ignored them.

He was angry at Sarah, when he should have been angry with himself. (Her cold demeanor didn't help it though.) Beck sighed, feeling his anger bleed out of him like it was from an open wound. He tried to summon up the vestiges of happiness and optimism from his win at the Rustboro Gym. Yes, he had paid for being gullible, but at least he had Rush now. The Poliwhirl was a strong Pokemon, and they were getting along very well. He had won his third Gym Badge. He was almost halfway through the Gyms. Oddish had evolved. Igneous was stronger and friendlier, too.

Still, the thoughts of Solo dogged him, as Beck sullenly followed Sarah out of the city. Worst of all, the Skarmory might have forgotten about him already. The bird had not yet bonded very closely to him. Solo might have been _happy_ to have gotten away. That thought stung more than the fact that he had been tricked.

He should have listened to his instincts, no matter how faintly they rang in warning.

_I told you so, _the Suspicion Voice said smugly.

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>Yep yep.<p>

More craziness to come next time~

Thanks for reading. :D


	7. Lifted High

A/N: Yay update one year later!

I do still have a rough idea of where I was going with this. Sort of. So I might actually finish this story, yay! (I actually had to go back and reread though. :p)

But yeah.

It's, like, two-thirty in the morning and I don't feel like looking it over for stupid errors, and this is fanfiction and you're just reading this for a brief spurt of entertainment so no I'm not gonna look it over nor am I gonna get a Beta reader because I'm lazy and I just wanna get this thing done because unfinished things bother me slightly and so do run-on sentences but it's too late for me to care. Have a nice read, and good night. :p

Disclaimer: I still don't own Pokemon.

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><p>Under normal circumstances, Beck would not have noticed the figure standing on the bridge at all. It was an older boy that looked to be in his late teens, wearing a black jacket covered in multiple pockets. Dark hair was flung in black streaks by the lake winds. He might have been a Trainer, or perhaps someone just standing there for the sake of it. Either way, it was none of Beck's business and the sight of the stranger most certainly <em>shouldn't<em> have caused Beck to pause in mid-step.

"What?" Sarah asked. She followed his gaze to the teen at the bridge. Her eyes betrayed nothing.

_He's one of them, _the Suspicion Voice declared. Beck felt the urge to shove the voice away like usual, but after Sarah's lecture about instincts and whatnot, he decided to give it a chance. Beck pointed cautiously at the older boy.

"That person…is he…?"

Sarah's lips curved into a small smirk. "Well, yes. He's my contact. Good eye, Beck. I always told him that he looks too shady, loitering around like that."

It wasn't that the boy looked "shady" though—in fact, he looked _so_ extremely normal that it set off the alarm bells in Beck's head. He stared at the person for a moment, and decided that it was the way that the kid was standing. From all angles, it seemed he was simply gazing languorously out beyond the lake, enjoying the view, but there was a strange, subtle stiffness in his stance, an odd vigilant tilt to his head, like he was constantly listening for danger and ready to vanish at anytime.

Beck groaned mentally, absolutely sure that before he met Sarah, he never observed people like he did now. She was rubbing off on him.

Sarah crossed onto the bridge, walked casually up to the stranger, who had his back turned to them, and punched him in the shoulder.

The teen turned around slowly and mechanically, an immense amount of irritation etched in his stormy ink-colored eyes.

"You're late."

Sarah shrugged, glancing meaningfully at some nearby Trainers and with an air of forced friendliness, shoved her companion forward.

"Long time no see, _Alec," _she said, a big, fake, eerily cold grin plastered to her face. "Dad said he would meet us in the Petalburg Woods, didn't he? Well, let's _go."_

The boy gave her a cold look, but he stepped forward, past the bridge and toward the nearby forest. When they were well out of earshot of nearby people, he turned back around and glared right at Beck.

"Who's this?"

"That's Beck," Sarah said impatiently. She turned to Beck and introduced her companion with one word. "Kingfisher," she said shortly, like she was reading a label stuck on him.

Kingfisher turned his scrutinizing dark eyes back onto Sarah. "Why do you have a civilian with you, Oriole?"

"He's a Trainer."

There was a dangerous edge to his voice, as he repeated his question. "_Why_ do you have a civilian with you?"

Sarah's own eyes were a pair of green daggers.

"Why—I just simply felt _so_ lonely all by my poor self that I _couldn't_ cope and had to travel with someone."

"Do you realize what kind of danger you could be putting—"

"I came here to deliver my report, not to hear prattling," Sarah said. The very air seemed to have gone cold, become frozen over at the molecular level. "Do you want it now? If not, you can get it from Osprey."

Beck took an involuntary step back, as Kingfisher snarled, "_Report." _

An intensely cold smile appeared on Sarah's face.

"Nothing much to be said. Zero engagement with hostiles. Internal Affairs investigation ongoing. No new intel. Had a sandwich for lunch. Anything else, sir?"

Kingfisher gave no visible reaction to her sarcasm. "It's been a week and you've found _nothing_?"

"You've been on this case for the entire month, and you haven't filed a single report yet," retorted Sarah irately. For once she sounded like a properly angry eleven year-old girl and not some kind of robot. "I got no contact upon arrival here either, and Osprey has no idea what to do. Where were _you _for the past week huh? Maybe if Looker put someone _competent_ in charge …"

The dark eyes narrowed. Beck glanced around nervously. Even though their tones were blatantly hostile, their voices had not risen above a conversational level—but still, Beck feared the pure, unadulterated antagonism leaking into the air would attract attention.

"You have not even told me what exactly I am _investigating_," Sarah snarled.

Kingfisher's tone could have frozen all the Sinnoh Lakes over. "You are investigating the movements of the traitor in the ranks."

Her anger seemed to melt into absolute outraged surprise. "All this time?" she seethed. "I've been going in circles trying to track information on Team Aqua and that wasn't my mission in the first place?"

"You should have come and contacted me on arrival—,"

Beck was getting tired of this. It was like watching two siblings argue, neither willing to back down. The loss of his Skarmory still weighed in the back of his mind and he'd had enough.

"Okay guys," he said with an uncharacteristic edge in his voice. "Weren't we going to Dewford Town? Gym?"

Then he cringed, preparing himself for the backlash. Instead of erupting at him next, Sarah straightened and nodded briskly. "We're wasting time." Her face was expressionless again.

"You won't find anything in Dewford," Kingfisher said tightly. "I just came from there."

Sarah flashed him a cool, unimpressed glance.

"It's a tactical diversion from my mission then. To have the traitor, wherever they are, feel falsely complacent and secure."

Beck had a feeling that she was just saying that to one-up him.

Kingfisher scoffed and tossed a bag onto the ground.

"Equipment for your mission, courtesy of the higher-ups," he said. "Hope you enjoy."

Sarah picked the bag up and sifted the contents a bit. She fished out a Pokeball and after examining it for a moment, stuck it at an empty slot at her belt. The rest of the bag was full of colorful CD's.

"I don't need any TMs," she said, closing the bag. Kingfisher shrugged and made no motion to take it back.

"It's not my concern what you do with it then. Sell it, burn it, eat it." He turned away, ready to depart.

"Come on," Sarah said, moving past Beck swiftly, eager to get away from her contact. Beck paused, and then, after glancing around at both of them, snatched the bag of TM's from the ground before following her.

* * *

><p>Despite the little windshield on the boat, the cool misty water completely soaked him. Beck sighed and smoothed back his dampened blond hair, keeping his other hand on a metal bar to keep from being flung into the ocean. The waves were rough today, playfully shoving their little vessel to and fro. He was cold and wet and a little seasick, and he wished he could go hide in a Pokeball like Igneous.<p>

Sarah stood next to him, getting just as wet. She stared moodily out into the ocean, more irritated than usual. In fact, the only one who seemed to be enjoying the boat ride to Dewford Town was Sarah's Furret. The Long Body Pokemon had his paws on the railing and was leaning forward into the gusty sea breeze. He got splashed in the face several times but he would only produce a chuckling sound and lick the salt from his fur. He shook out the excess water, getting it on his Trainer who glared daggers; Furret didn't seem to care.

"He likes water, doesn't he?" Beck said, at last daring to start a conversation. Sarah gave him the most unimpressed of looks.

"I suppose."

She didn't seem very interesting in idle chatter, but they had fifteen more minutes of rough sailing to do and Beck wasn't going to spend it wallowing in miserable boredom and seawater.

"When did you get him?"

"When he was a Sentret," she drawled.

"Yes, but where is he from?"

"An egg."

Beck turned to her fully, exasperated. "You know, sometimes you act like such a little kid."

"I am a little kid, and so are you."

"Exactly," he said. "How can the police use children as secret agents?"

"Children have the least noticeable eyes and ears. And are the only ones suitable to pose as young Trainers, of course." Her tone was logical, detached.

"Were you always like this?" Beck paused. "I mean, something must have happened. Normal kids don't just become secret members of the International Police."

"I'm not normal," she said, leaning against the railing. "My father was an agent, and his uncle as well. I was raised to do this."

"Raised?" Beck echoed. He looked into her icy green eyes and had the sudden image of Sarah as a little girl, cold and grim, training ruthlessly with her Sentret—not for fun or bonding or in carefree preparation of the lighthearted trainer but for a clear, brusque purpose.

"Weren't you ever unhappy, your life being chosen for you?"

Sarah straightened and gave him a piercing look full of scorn, as though she was explaining a concept too complex for his puny mind.

"My life wasn't chosen for me. At any time I could have cried over skimmed knees and gone to chase Butterfrees. At any time Furret could have flopped on the ground and wailed about Pokemon abuse. But we were given a duty and we chose to do it."

"That's not fair," Beck argued, "to put such a burden on a child."

If he had a choice, he would gladly give up all of his street-smarts and maturity and have his father back. He would gladly become a clueless spoiled brat who didn't know what hardship meant, if it returned his dad.

"We take the burden," she said tonelessly, "so that some other child somewhere doesn't need to. And when we're grown we'll be ready to carry the burden so that some other adult somewhere doesn't need to worry about their children."

Beck sighed and turned back to the ocean. She always had to have the last word.

* * *

><p>"Okay, Brawly's team is going to be faster than us," Beck said, meeting each of his Pokemons' gazes to make sure that they were paying attention. "But we have several advantages. We're a tight team, and we've been trained by a scary slave driver. None of us are coddled—we can definitely take on even a guy as tough as Brawly."<p>

He paused and all of them looked around to make sure Sarah wasn't around. They exchanged nervous chuckles.

"We've got teamwork, we support each other. We have you—" He pointed at Baltoy, and the Psychic-type nodded anxiously, fully aware that its type advantage was pivotal for the oncoming battle. "—and also, these."

He held up the bag of TM's and produced the first disc he was planning on using. It was a strategy that Sarah had lighted suggested, and he had thought about.

"This is Trick Room. It'll be your job, Baltoy, to set it up. You're going to be my lead for our battle against Brawly."

The top-shaped Pokemon quivered slightly. It was feeling the pressure of having lost all of its previous battles and now suddenly being relied on. Beck patted it on the head.

"You'll do fine," he promised. "You'll definitely win. Ready to learn Trick Room?"

Baltoy nodded bravely and held still as its Trainer pressed the disc against its head. The TM glowed briefly, imparting the knowledge contained within, before dissolving. Baltoy hummed thoughtfully.

"Alright, we've got to practice our strategy now."

Sarah was currently nowhere to be found but Furret was sunbathing on a nearby rock. Upon Beck's request, the Normal-type yawned, got up, and volunteered to help the boy's team train.

Furret allowed Baltoy to set up Trick Room before attacking. The experienced Pokemon darted forward, only to be surprised when Baltoy dodged easily. Under the effects of its new move, the Psychic-type was faster now, while Furret seemed to be moving in slow motion.

But even when caught in a tricky (no pun intended) situation without a Trainer to guide him, Furret was still a well-trained police Pokemon and a very clever and strong opponent. And he was a straight-up cheater.

After avoiding the Psybeam fired at him, Furret used Trick—and Beck quickly realized that the Normal-type was holding a Choice Scarf. Furret snatched the Sitrus Berry that Beck had given Baltoy (like he had given all the others) and shoved the Scarf into the bewildered Psychic-type's face. The Choice Scarf increased Baltoy's speed…but under the effects of Trick Room that meant he was slower.

"Timeout, timeout!" Beck cried before Furret pummeled Baltoy into bits. "I know you're smart and you're capable of winning against everything and anything—sheesh—but could you work with us here? We're trying to learn a strategy to beating faster Pokemon…and I doubt a lot of them will be holding Choice Scarves!"

Furret shrugged cheerily and returned the stolen Berry in exchange for his Scarf, and agreed not to use his clever counter-strategy anymore. Seriously, though, Beck thought. Sarah was prepared for anything.

By the time she returned from whatever excursion she went off to, Beck's Pokemon could consistently execute their plan. Beck had also taught Rush the Poliwhirl a stronger Water-type move, and used the TM for Explosion on Igneous—Roxanne's strategy of attrition seemed to work, and the tough Numel didn't mind taking one for the team. They had trained until they dropped, several times, and then gotten up and trained again, and Beck had put the matter of his stolen Skarmory away successfully. He was focused on the here and now.

"What do you think?" the boy asked breathlessly. "Am I ready for the Gym battle?"

Sarah looked over them contemplatively. They were all sweaty and dirty from training hard all day, but fiery determination, that joy from seeing results from hard work, burned in their eyes.

She glanced at Furret who squealed his approval.

"I suppose you are."

* * *

><p>There wasn't much of a conversation to be had with Brawly; the Gym leader was all pumped up today, eager to get to the fighting part, and so was Beck.<p>

"You're up, Machamp!" Brawly hollered. The Pokeball burst into light and a burly, heavily-muscled, four-armed Pokemon emerged, grinning. It was going to get rough right off the bat.

Beck sent out Baltoy. The Psychic-type cringed back a little upon seeing its giant opponent who cracked the knuckles on all four of his hands. It was clear that Baltoy was nervous; Beck hoped fervently that the little Pokemon would pull through despite the pressure and its previous failures.

"Bulk Up," Brawly commanded, as Beck called for Baltoy to set up Trick Room.

"Quickly, Psybeam!"

Baltoy surged forward and let loose a distorted ring of psychic energy. It flew right in Machamp's direction…and then missed.

The Fighting-type retaliated with a Karate Chop that Baltoy only barely dodged.

"Come on!" Beck shouted. "You've got to focus!"

But Baltoy's next Psybeam missed as well, and the next. By now the little Pokemon's self-confidence was completely shattered—and the Trick Room was running out with each moment. Beck made a quick decision and withdrew Baltoy.

"Your turn, Gloom!"

The Grass-type came onto the field ready to fight. Immediately, he managed to get Machamp right in the face with Poison Powder. He used the Trick Room to dodge any returned attacks, just like they practiced, and launched swift, accurate Mega Drains until his opponent finally collapsed from the well-aimed hits as well as the poison.

"Nice job!" Beck cheered, pumping his fist up into the air. Despite the uncertain start, it was 4-3 in his favor, Trick Room was still up, and none of his Pokemon had suffered damage yet. Things were looking good.

"Not bad. Not bad at all," said Brawly. "You're a smart Trainer. I like that. But no matter how smart you are, you can't stand up to superior power. Show it to them, Medetite!"

The small, lithe blue Pokemon appeared and floated about a foot into the air.

"Quick, Sleep Powder," Beck ordered.

Gloom hastened to obey, but Meditite managed to dodge it.

"Try Mega Drain, this time."

"Meditite, use Light Screen!"

The Fighting-Psychic-type quickly threw up a translucent yellow barrier that deflected the Mega Drain attack.

"Now!" Brawly roared. "Psychic!"

Oh no—

Before any words could leave Beck's mouth, the powerful super-effective attack hit Gloom squarely, sending him flying across the gym. The Grass-type landed, limp. It was a one-shot.

Gloom would be embarrassed about that later, Beck thought ruefully as he withdrew the fainted Grass-type. He rested his fingers lightly over the other three Pokeballs. He felt a reluctance to use Baltoy again unless he had to…the Psychic-type was still shaky, unready…it was down to either Poliwhirl or Numel. In the end he decided on sending out Rush—Igneous's Ground-type moves were useless against a Levitating opponent.

The Poliwhirl proved to be a pretty good match against the Meditite. Rush's new move, Waterfall, was a powerful big threat and every time Meditite attempted to set up a Light Screen or a Reflect, it would targeted with Hypnosis.

"Now—Body Slam!" Beck called as their opponent scrambled sideways to avoid another Waterfall attack. At the last moment Rush obeyed, using the momentum from his water-charged attack to swerve around and slam into Meditite.

With a hit landed, Rush quickly gained a rhythm and pummeled his opponent over and over with Waterfalls until the Meditite was unconscious and soaked on the floor.

"You're good," Brawly admitted with a grin. "But I can counter that."

He sent out a Hitmontop, next. Beck ordered another Waterfall, but the foe blocked with Protect. Hitmontop dodged the next Waterfall as well as another Body Slam.

"Waterfall, again!" Beck shouted, frustrated.

"Now!" Brawly cried in response.

Rush slammed into his opponent with Waterfall—but less than a second later, he was flying backwards. The Poliwhirl landed on his back, completely winded, and then Hitmontop sent him back into the air with a decisive Triple Kick.

Beck furiously analyzed the last ten seconds as he withdrew his defeated Water-type. It took the boy a moment to realize that the Hitmontop had used Counter.

"I can counter that," Brawly had said. Ha ha.

Beck took out Igneous's Pokeball now. He had to be careful; this Gym Leader was very good at suddenly turning the tables.

"Finish him off, Igneous!"

The Numel entered the battlefield with a bored expression on his face like always. But by now Beck could tell that he was focused.

"Flame Burst!"

Igneous let loose a spurt of fire, which his opponent easily avoided. The Hitmontop moved at a blinding speed and managed to hit Igneous with three rapid kicks before Beck realized he had forgotten about the Trick Room—by now it was gone and Brawly's Pokemon were a lot faster.

He cursed his mistake and thought hard about his next move. To have a clear shot at victory, he needed Trick Room up. But could Baltoy, who had to be recalled because of nerves, handle being shoved into the middle of battle all of a sudden?

He had to chance it.

"Come back, Igneous. Alright, it's up to you, Baltoy! Trick Room!"

The top Pokemon made a startled noise that changed into a squeak as the Hitmontop charged at it. Finally, Beck's command registered and Baltoy began glowing—the air around the arena distorted slightly as Trick Room once again came into effect.

"Nice job, Baltoy. Now—Psybeam. You can do it!"

The Psychic-type aimed determinedly at its opponent and this time got off a clean hit. Another Psybeam was all it took to bring Brawly down to only one Pokemon. And even as the Gym Leader sent out a threatening-looking Hariyama, Beck and Baltoy were too busy celebrating the little Psychic-type's first victory.

"I knew you could do it," Beck said fiercely, wishing he could go down there right now and give his Pokemon a hug.

"Fake Out!" Brawly snapped.

The celebration ended as the attack spun Baltoy into a wall.

"Now," the Gym Leader cried, "while it's disorientated—use Belly Drum!"

Beck shouted for a Psybeam, but it was too late; the Hariyama had pulled off the move that maximized its Attack. Every single hit that connected would hurt very much now.

"Focus Punch," Brawly ordered. Hariyama grunted and began charging up for the devastating attack—Beck knew that even with a resistance factor, Baltoy wouldn't be able to take a maxed-out hit from a Pokemon like that.

"Quickly, use Psybeam," he ordered, "but keep your distance and be careful."

Baltoy obeyed. Beck leaned forward and prayed fervently that the attack wouldn't miss—if Baltoy went down, Igneous stood no chance...he heard from someone that Brawly's Hariyama carried the use of Earthquake…

But the Psybeam hit. Hariyama collapsed, unable to move, its focus broken. Beck grinned. The Fighting-type's only other attacks were Earthquake and Fake Out, both of which were useless against Baltoy.

"One more time!"

And that finished it; their foe fell heavily to the ground. Beck didn't waste any time. He leapt onto the field and grabbed Baltoy, hugging the Pokemon to his chest.

"You did it! You did it!" he shouted gleefully. He heard Baltoy make a distorted sound in response; then, the air was lit with a fierce glow and Beck suddenly found himself dangling in the air.

When the boy managed to look up, he was gazing into several large puzzled purple eyes.

"Clay?"

"Baltoy?" Beck whispered. "No, you...evolved!"

He was clinging to one of the Psychic-type's detachable arms. His new Claydol blinked in surprise before gently depositing its Trainer back onto the ground.

"Clay!"

After that moment, time seemed to speed up a little; Beck received the Knuckle Badge and rushed out of the Gym even before Brawly had a chance to congratulate him.

He was so happy that he couldn't stay still, and his good mood certainly hadn't faded when traveling companion returned.

"Baltoy...I mean, Claydol did it," Beck told Sarah. "Claydol got the victory for me."

"Good for you. Your Pokemon should be evolving around now, considering the time they've spent with you," she replied calmly. She was looking out at the horizon. "I have news from Slateport City. We're going there to investigate, next."

He didn't care. Not even Sarah's usual gloominess could drive his good mood away. He hoped that Solo, wherever the trickster Youngster had taken him, was happy; but Beck no longer felt the Skarmory's loss as keenly. Rush the Poliwhirl was a good addition; his team worked well and they were there for him. He had gotten his fourth Badge!

There was a skip in his step as they got into the boat to Slateport, and even as they sailed through more rough waters, Beck was as cheerful as Furret.

* * *

><p>Yay, long battle, and another evolution. And off to Slateport next.<p>

Next update? I don't know. But now that I've gotten a bit into it again, I don't think it'll be another year. :p

Thanks for reading, and have a nice day. :D


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